Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Heh, might as well post this one. Looky what i have:

--------[ EVEREST Ultimate Edition ]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Version                                           EVEREST v5.01.1706 Beta
    Benchmark Module                                  2.4.258.0
    Homepage                                          http://www.lavalys.com/
    Report Type                                       Quick Report
    Computer                                          ARIADNE
    Generator                                         Th3_uN1Qu3
    Operating System                                  Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
    Date                                              2009-04-13
    Time                                              03:17


--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Computer:
      Computer Type                                     ACPI Multiprocessor PC
      Operating System                                  Microsoft Windows XP Professional
      OS Service Pack                                   Service Pack 2
      Internet Explorer                                 6.0.2900.2096
      DirectX                                           4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
      Computer Name                                     ARIADNE
      User Name                                         Th3_uN1Qu3
      Logon Domain                                      ARIADNE
      Date / Time                                       2009-04-13 / 03:17

    Motherboard:
      CPU Type                                          2x Intel Pentium IIIE, 700 MHz (7 x 100)
      Motherboard Name                                  Gigabyte GA-6BXDS  (3 ISA, 4 PCI, 1 AGP, 4 DIMM, SCSI)
      Motherboard Chipset                               Intel 82440BX
      System Memory                                     1024 MB  (SDRAM)
      DIMM1: NEC 4532CD647PF-A75                        256 MB PC133 SDRAM  (3.0-3-3-6 @ 133 MHz)  (2.0-2-2-5 @ 100 MHz)
      DIMM2: Kingston 32MX64PC100CL2168                 256 MB PC100 SDRAM  (3.0-2-2-5 @ 100 MHz)  (2.0-2-2-5 @ 100 MHz)
      DIMM3:                                            256 MB PC133 SDRAM  (3.0-3-3-6 @ 133 MHz)
      DIMM4:                                            256 MB PC133 SDRAM  (3.0-3-3-6 @ 133 MHz)
      BIOS Type                                         Award Modular (10/12/00)
      Communication Port                                Communications Port (COM1)
      Communication Port                                Communications Port (COM2)
      Communication Port                                ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

    Display:
      Video Adapter                                     RADEON 9800 SERIES - Secondary  (256 MB)
      Video Adapter                                     RADEON 9800 SERIES  (256 MB)
      3D Accelerator                                    ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (R350)
      Monitor                                           Generic Television

    Multimedia:
      Audio Adapter                                     Creative SB AWE64 Audio Adapter
      Audio Adapter                                     Creative SB AWE64 Wavetable MIDI Audio Adapter

    Storage:
      IDE Controller                                    Intel(R) 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
      Storage Controller                                Adaptec AIC-7895 Dual Ultra SCSI
      Storage Controller                                Adaptec AIC-7895 Dual Ultra SCSI
      Storage Controller                                Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Controller
      Storage Controller                                VAXSCSI Controller
      Floppy Drive                                      Floppy disk drive
      Disk Drive                                        WDC WD32 00AAJS-07RYA0 SCSI Disk Device  (298 GB)
      Optical Drive                                     ATAPI DVD A  DH20A1P  (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:20x/8x, DVD-RW:20x/6x, DVD-RAM:12x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
      Optical Drive                                     Lite-On CD/DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device
      Optical Drive                                     Lite-On CD/DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device
      SMART Hard Disks Status                           OK

    Partitions:
      C: (NTFS)                                         10244 MB (1948 MB free)
      D: (NTFS)                                         288.1 GB (76.8 GB free)
      Total Size                                        298.1 GB (78.7 GB free)

    Input:
      Keyboard                                          Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
      Mouse                                             PS/2 Compatible Mouse

    Network:
      Primary IP Address                                79.117.6.223
      Primary MAC Address                               00-00-00-00-00-00
      Network Adapter                                   WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface  (79.117.6.223)

    Peripherals:
      USB1 Controller                                   Intel 82371AB/EB PIIX4 - USB Host Controller
      USB1 Controller                                   VIA Vectro VT6212 PCI-USB Universal Host Controller
      USB1 Controller                                   VIA Vectro VT6212 PCI-USB Universal Host Controller
      USB2 Controller                                   VIA Vectro VT6212 USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller

    DMI:
      DMI BIOS Vendor                                   Award Software International, Inc.
      DMI BIOS Version                                  4.51 PG
      DMI System Manufacturer                           
      DMI System Product                                
      DMI System Version                                
      DMI System Serial Number                          
      DMI Motherboard Manufacturer                      Giga-Byte Technology CO., LTD
      DMI Motherboard Product                           i440BX-8671
      DMI Motherboard Version                           
      DMI Motherboard Serial Number                     
      DMI Chassis Manufacturer                          
      DMI Chassis Version                               
      DMI Chassis Serial Number                         
      DMI Chassis Asset Tag                             
      DMI Chassis Type                                  
      DMI Total / Free Memory Sockets                   4 / 0

Here she is, Codename Ariadne.



To sum it up, Gigabyte 6BXDS mobo, 2x PIII 700MHz, 1GB SDRAM running at 100MHz 2-2-2-5, Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro voltmodded @ 414/672 with Freezone Pentagram XC-70 Al+ cooler, Creative Sound Blaster AWE64 ISA, Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB on Silicon Image Sil3112a PCI SATA card, 4x USB 2.0 on VIA PCI USB controller, Lite-On DH20A1P DVD writer. All enclosed in a Frontier Tricorn case and displayed on a 24" Thomson TV. Controlled via A4Tech wireless kb/mouse kit, forgot the model name but they're really good.

How does she run? Really nice considering the age of the parts. OS is Windows XP SP2, more specifically TinyXP Platinum 2, tweaked even further. Boots in 35 seconds, half of which are the hardware checks... Windows hasn't been reinstalled for 3 years, and been through one mobo change, two sets of CPUs, two HDDs and three video cards yet still running strong. Fans are very quiet, and lighted nicely. Will post a couple pics of the setup tomorrow.

Background: I used to have an Asus P2B-DS with two PII 450s overclocked to 500. I then bought a pair of PIII 667s and modded the P2B to run 150FSB so i had a nice 750MHz going. That was the most sensitive system i ever had, and i mean that in a good way. I dunno how, but if i turned around when she was booting she wouldn't boot anymore. When i was chatting with my gf Winamp would always put on love songs even if i had my whole playlist on random. It was kinda freaky now that i think about it...

Then one day the PSU blew my P2B-DS mobo. Lesson learned - never use no-name PSUs again. I then bought another Asus mobo which ran on RIMMs. That too failed, within a couple days.

After almost an year someone brought me this 6BXDS. It lacked the BIOS chip and the chipset heatsink. I had a heatsink i could use, also found a BIOS chip and hotflashed it in a P1 board. She booted up first time, so i thought, what the hell, let's make 'er a rig again. Bought 2x 256MB SDRAM, put in a 120 gig hard drive and brought it to my grandparents' place here.

Then slowly i've been adding up every year - a nice case, a PCI SATA controller and a 320GB hard disk, a USB 2.0 controller and two more sticks of RAM, one of those rare 9800 Pros that work on AGP 2x... And she's still running fine and doing lots of things that many thought impossible on such a computer. Sure, she is a tad slow but she's the most reliable system i have ever had. I NEVER could crash her, no matter what i ran. She just keeps going and going and going.

Coming up this summer: Extreme mods to the board. I practiced on a Tyan mobo in modding the vregs, now all i need is a 133MHz oscillator and hopefully i'll be stable at 2x 933MHz. From my experience i know that the 440BX chipset can even do 150MHz FSB, and from that Tyan board i know that the CPUs can do 933MHz. But the Tyan doesn't want to run my 9800 Pro, so i'm gonna have to do it on this Gigabyte mobo.

My dream: Finding two identical slotkets and running a pair of 1400MHz Tualatins. That should be as close to C2D as possible.

Well, that's my achievement. Honestly i can hardly believe it's been three years already. Hope i didn't bore you too much.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

That's a nice oldschool setup, Gigabyte boards are legends for sure!

Have you seen this contest? Maybe you could win >>>
bit-tech.net | Gigabyte searching for oldest working motherboard

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

Yeah but it's open only to the UK and Ireland, booooo.

Regardless, i'll have those pics coming tonight - the LEDs don't look so bright in the daylight.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

Oh, i forgot to post the pics, haven't i? Here we go.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

Nice! Is that case as old as the board or no?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

Nah, it's a fair bit newer. And the board was a few years old already when i picked it up. I liked the cases they had at a local internet cafe so i decided to get a similar one but with a different color scheme. The temp sensor is hooked to the video card, it never goes over 50C. And of course, the whole thing is as quiet as a whisper. Not that i'd really need her to be quiet, as you can see, i got a loud ass sound system. And my neighbours are deaf so it never bothers them, hehe.

Oh and notice the homemade mouse pad, ghetto engineering ftw. That A4Tech wireless kit really does a good job, it even came with two pairs of rechargeables for the mouse and there is a charger on the receiver. 3 years down and still working like brand new.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

Ahh I just wondered as it did not look like any cases I had seen recently. HAHA, Ya I use funky things for mousepads often myself, manuals, couch arm wrest, ect.

Hey, I used to make speaker boxes like that when I was young, how's it sound? You have a air port in it anywhere?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

I believe it's still available here, it's called the Frontier Tricorn. However i don't know about anywhere else. Comes with a lit 80mm fan on the side panel, the 120mm on the back is my own job. As a matter of fact i had bought the fan without LEDs and later wired them myself.

As for the speaker box, it's my first serious one, previously that sub lived in a cardboard box. Obviously not the best sounding thing. To be honest i was surprised of the quality and loudness when i finished building the box, i'll have to do something about all the windows on the cupboards/shelves/whatever they are called in english, you know what i'm talking about. The shelves in my room have those big glass windows and they shake like crazy. And that's considering it's powered by like 20W. That sub was pretty cheap but it's got great sensitivity.

The amp i have built for it needs a bigger power supply, it's built with a TDA7294 so it can output up to 75W, however, if it shakes all the glass in my room with only 20W i can imagine what will happen at full power... Still, i am gonna put a bigger power supply there.

No, it isn't ported yet as i did not have any ports at that time and didn't want to make ghetto ones. I'll take care of that this summer when i'll go to my grandparents' place again (if you didn't catch it, all this stuff isn't at my place). Indeed it doesn't really go lower than 40Hz (audible), however in games that use low frequency effects i can feel the desk shaking under my hands when i play. But yeah it should be even better with ports, i believe i'm gonna tune them to 32Hz.

[Dodgexander]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

Really cool man. I would consider dual booting with Linux. Youd be able to get far better performance web browsing and youd probs be able to set up some nice vis affects too.

I want to get together an old rig when I get the chance just for that purpose :P

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

I considered installing Linux in the past, however, i also game on it. You'd be surprised what that thing can play. Same XP install has been kicking for 3 years, and i don't see any reason to change that.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Oldschool Gigabyte board still kickin - 6BXDS

Heh, whad'ya know, i'm back here. Ariadne's just received a well-deserved upgrade - meaning a new set of CPUs!!! I never thought i would get my hands on some, but here they are, a pair of the 1.4GHz 512kB cache PIII-S processors, and a pair of slotkets to go with them.

I'm going to paste some of this from somewhere else, i'll be skipping some details, but let me just say that modding the slotkets (MSI MS-6905 Master v2) proved to be a long and tedious task. However, in the end, i accomplished it.

The original plan was to put the CPUs in the legendary Asus P2B-DS rev 1.06, which i also received in the package i had waited for 2 months to get. It was so good seeing that board again... Immediately the full set of mods were done to the board, and i patiently waited holidays to install it in my system. But then - my bad luck struck again and the P2B would not install Windows with both Tualatins, not even at 100FSB. After days of struggling i gave it up, and decided to drop the chips as they are in the 6BXDS. Well what do you know, it booted straight up, no reinstall required (luckily i used a separate drive for testing the P2B), and the new chips run like a dream. Sure, i'm limited to 100MHz FSB, so i'm only running at 2x 1.05GHz, but it's certainly better than dual 700s. So here some quick pics.

Yes that is a seriously large CRT. I have gotten this IBM P275 this summer, and if one wasn't enough i'm planning to grab a second one. Sensor is planted in the middle of the Pentagram XC-70 cooling the ultra vmodded Radeon 9800. That thing really needs some ramsinks, the RAM chips are burning when i run the ATi Tray Tools artifact tester, however it's been running fine for almost two years in this configuration. I'll slap some ramsinks on this summer just in case.



Since i'm running at 100FSB i managed to get away with setting the lowest voltage possible for the CPUs, 1.3v (it appears as 1.35, CPUs are 1.45v stock). The only glitch is the weird CPU speed mentioned at POST, but they are recognized fine under Windows. :) Btw, the gray block was a camera glitch.


The max the BIOS would do was this:


Which got me these:





But i wasn't about to let the BIOS get in my way so i grabbed WPCREDIT and the 440BX chipset datasheet, and arrived to this:





Sure, it is no speed demon, and it's obvious that the memory timings did not gain much 3D performance (the CPU bottleneck is still obvious, and after all, the graphics card is running on AGP 2x!), but it's a welcome boost. The Radeon 9800 Pro has turned 7 years old this august (not my card, the original release date i mean), and most of the system is older than that. Yet it is still able to beat integrated graphics of today. That says something about it, and that's why i simply refuse to replace this computer. Oh, and 3DMark03 isn't even multi-CPU optimized right? Too bad newer stuff requires shader model 3.0., that's the only wall.

Any game 2006 or older plays well, and then some - for example Red Alert 3 would run quite nicely even with the old 700s! Can't wait to try it now. Also it's more than able to run any Source engine games in good conditions.

So, is this the end? Certainly... Not. If the Asus P2B (which can do FSB 150 with mods) will not work, then this summer i plan to get a 'scope, and build my own PLL circuit for the 6BXDS, to inject whatever FSB i want. I'll hijack the FSB lines only leaving PCI, AGP and other buses running happily on their default clocks, while pushing the FSB as high as it will go. Then we will see the true limits of the Pentium III... I think i will be pleasantly surprised by it.

Ah well, happy 2010. :) Btw, i'll be back soon with a more "modern" topic, i'll need a new mobo for my main computer and i hope you can help me decide.

Oh, and i forgot. This board has one of the weirdest behaviours i have ever seen. About twice a day the HDD LED will light up and the whole system will look like it's frozen. But give her 30 seconds and she will simply resume from this state and continue running. I believe it's got something to do with the SATA controller card, but i don't want to know what. It's what gives her personality, and i certainly don't mind it.