What's new
Carbonite

South Africa's Top Online Tech Classifieds!
Register a free account today to become a member! (No Under 18's)
Home of C.U.D.

Legacy Build

Presler

VIP
VIP Supporter
Rating - 100%
308   0   1
Joined
May 1, 2010
Messages
3,416
Reaction score
631
Points
7,135
Age
44
Location
Skukuza
So this isn't going to be a massive project log, just thought I'll share.

Been wanting to do a legacy build for a long time but most of the parts I come across is either busted or I couldn't find/put together a full compatible build. Got some stuff together now that should hold together very well.

Managed to get a hold of an empty Mecer Premium X case. Always like the case design and look, and since it's a legacy build, a legacy case will do just fine.
DSC_0857_zpsox17pwst.jpg


Motherboard, Gigabyte GA6VXE7+ with Pentium 3 866MHz CPU and 256Mb RAM. 512 came with the board but only going to use 256 for now.
DSC_0834_zps3tp6vldk.jpg


GPU I have is an S3 Savage 4 16Mb. I had the PCI version of this card many moons ago, so if this works as well as that one did, I'm keeping it in.
DSC_0835_zps4w3fspit.jpg


No onboard sound, but I have a 4 Channel C-Media 8138 3DX card to go in
DSC_0858_zps423qdxdl.jpg


The case came with a Samsung CD-RW, will test it and if it works, it's staying. HDD for the build will be a nice and clean Samsung Spinpoint 40Gb. Drive is still in very good condition, no funny noises.
DSC_0860_zpsragphsfb.jpg



Right, plans.
Case is very dirty, needs a good clean. Also need to pull the Win98 sticker off the front. I have a neat new Intel Inside sticker here that will go on unless I can source an original P3 sticker somewhere(chicken teeth, I know) All other parts will get a good cleanup before I even look at assembling. Case is in very good condition, still has the pressed slot covers where the cards go in, only two missing which is perfect for the GPU and Sound Card.

I love the look of the case, will stay the original color. Painting the whole thing black or another color will not look right. I am going to add a little color to the front just to break the color a bit. Also, the original LED's in these were very dimm, so will change those to some brighter ones.

The PSU that came out seems to be a generic cheapy, don't know if it works but it's damn dirty. I have at least 5 other ones here that I could use, so I'll work through them and see which one works and looks best.

Stiffy drive stays, Mitsumi drive that appears to be in perfect condition. Just something about the seek sound it makes on bootup that I love. :) Ribbon cable for the drives is a nice clean black ATA 100 cable that still looks brand new.

I plan to stick Windows ME on it. i never had issues with it, also played all the games I threw at it so ME is going on. Already have all the discs and downloaded all drivers.

Screen will be an LG 20M35A 20" LED. Keyboard and Mouse I will use a Genius M8000SE wireless set and for sound a Creative A320 2.1 set.

i will update the log as I go along, the build will be quite basic but a few changes and mods here and there I'm still deciding on.

this is it for now.
 
Right. I don't get a lot of time to work on this machine as I'd like, but a few changes has been made in the meantime. I happen to have lots of patience, so I really don't mind taking time to make this build as perfect as I can and most of all, the way I want it.

Tested all the parts and everything works well except for the GPU. Started getting a few other bits and pieces and picked up some more legacy spares while I was at it.

New GPU is Ati Radeon 9200SE 128Mb.
20150905132311_zpsthypn4up.jpg


After I realized the S3 savage was broken I started looking for a Radeon 7000, AGP4X and 64Mb RAM which should be more than enough for the builds purpose, but the 9200 just happened to arrive as part of a P2 i bought for spares. I did pick up a 7000 off ebay in the meanwhile, so with SAPO being what they are I will have time to figure out of the 9200 is overkill or not. :)
The 7000 that's on it's way.
$_12.JPG



2 better Sound cards have popped up as well. I have a SB 16Pro and SB 5.1 Live 24bit. i've promised the 16Pro to [MENTION=15681]THE_STIG[/MENTION], but I like the Live card more to fit the look of the case.
20150905132310_zpsla6a3bih.jpg


Some stuffs I picked up off ebay for Bling Bling effect. :) Got a few extras for future builds.
Ati Stickers
$(KGrHqFHJCME+Z+Jm7LVBQERTUDd,g~~60_12.JPG


Some Original P3 Stickers. Will decided on which color to use when they are here, but for now I'm liking the blue ones better.
$_12.JPG
$_57.JPG


Some coolers for the Chipset and SB and RAM heat spreaders
$_57.JPG

$_12.JPG


Last but not least, got a still sealed WinME package to have a CoA that can go onto the box.

Will update a bit later on the cleanup process.
 
Last edited:
The PSU that came out seems to be a generic cheapy, don't know if it works but it's damn dirty. I have at least 5 other ones here that I could use, so I'll work through them and see which one works and looks best.

Stiffy drive stays, Mitsumi drive that appears to be in perfect condition. Just something about the seek sound it makes on bootup that I love. :) Ribbon cable for the drives is a nice clean black ATA 100 cable that still looks brand new.

Some of those mercer's had pretty well made psu's, got one 200W. If you open it up its very well put together and uses only good Japanese components......weighs a ton too.

lol yes the sound of old floppy dives and the old hdds. I would put an oooold 500mb hdd in my pc just for the sound:p
 
[video=youtube;V-KFXXLcdhM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-KFXXLcdhM[/video]
 
Damn, this has been sitting in the shelf for almost year. Eased up some time and started getting back into this. Had some parts come in and some go out, pulled all of it out last night and started making decisions.

Pulled the case apart completely, grabbed two cans of paint and a can of primer and got at it this morning. The standard old flat grey looks kak, so thought to shine it up a bit. Motherboard tray slides out so that was easy, drilled out the rivets on the back panel and pulled that too. Covered both in Satin black. Case frame and HDD tray got both covered in a few layers of "Cast Iron" grey.
DSC_0072_zps8cwxnm04.jpg


All dry and put together, ready for the project assembly.
DSC_0076_zpsho3cbv0g.jpg


Shiny new rivets
DSC_0074_zpsx0cmxuev.jpg


Now, while the case is ready and almost all my parts are here, there's a few small bits missing. I'm of to JHB tomorrow and will fetch it all then and hopefully by the weekend will finally get this together. Sitting in my office in JHB is the DVD-ROM, New Black Ribbon cables, case rubber feet, power button and LED's for the front panel. Also missing my IO plate so will source one by hopefully the weekend to finish the build.

The original GPU is good enough but but I didn't like the red board. Got a Radeon 7000 64Mb of Ebay that looks perfect, the one with the blue cooler.
DSC_0082_zpskmjjjqno.jpg


Bought a 500w modular PSU for the build last year, but since I finished my son's build his PSU wasn't going to power any GPU, so dropped the 500W in there and pulled the 370w Gigabyte Odin for this build. Black matches the black parts in the case now so that works for me.
DSC_0084_zpsixdlb8xc.jpg


Got 2 SB cards here, SB 5.1SV which is the smaller one in the pic and the SB 5.1 live 24bit(bigger card). The Live24bit card looks much better in the machine than the SV so keeping that for the build.
DSC_0081_zpsihkocbe7.jpg


I had a few different boards and CPU's to mix and choose from, each with it's own advantage over the other. Not looking for anything crazy so stuck with my original Gigabyte GA6VXE7+ board and dropped the P3 866 for a 933mhz. Also while squizing through parts came accross a 512Mb RAM module from Elixer, going to use that instead of the original 256mb.

HDD still staying with the Samsung 40gb, still using Windows ME on it.

Next update should be in a few days or so of an assembled build ready for OS etc.
 
A few things.

Make your own rounded IDE cables. Cut (very) carefully between every 5-10 wires. A small nick will work, then you can peel them apart. Bundle the strips together with cable ties. I did this a lot back in the early 2000s, I never had an issue.

Reverse the hard drive. You probably won't be able to use more than two mounting screws, but install the hard drive so that the connectors face the front of the case. In your case (FFS, not intentional) a small hole in the bottom of the 3.5" cage will allow you to route the wires out of sight.

Ditch Windows ME. Seriously, just do it. Rather use Windows 98 SE or Windows 2000 (I have a 2K license for you if necessary). Win2K may pose a problem with some 16-bit games, so you may need to use DOSBox. Windows 98 SE will work an absolute charm, though.

I had a GA-6VXE7+. It has a Turbo jumper which is about all the assistance you get for overclocking. There is no voltage control and very basic FSB control. Gigabyte's EasyTune software offers more options for FSB, but still not a lot. With the CPU you've chosen you're going to have very little headroom for overclocking on that board, but if you want a Vmod let me know.
 
Thanx, was thinking of doing the round cables, I know we spoke about this on the whatsapp groups before too. Will see about the drive reversal too, but the idea was to only use one cable for the drive and optical drive. Not planning to clock, the build will be as straight forward as anything I build but more so just for a bit of nostalgic fun.

Not ditching ME. I've always had less issues with all of MS's bastard children than most everyone else. ME, Vista, 8.1, loved them all and worked well. I gapped with ME for around 3 years between 98 and XP. I had several machines on 2000 too but used ME on my gaming machine way back when everyone swore to 98. 512mb is more than enough for ME, if not, I have enough to bump it up to 1Gb.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom