I rushed to build a working machine, so the FDD is missing its bezel and a piece of some PVC masks the other 3,5 inch bay. That'll do for now.
The inside. I managed to adapt an old MSI USB bracket to fit the board (yes, it has some USB support, and it works!)
| Specs | |
|---|---|
| Mobo | PCChips A101 (Socket 7, AT) |
| Chipset | Intel 430VX |
| CPU | Intel Pentium 75MHz |
| RAM | 24MB EDO (2x8MB, 2x4MB) |
| GPU | S3 Virge/GX (like a DX with faster memory) 4MB VRAM Originally had a very, very unstable Voodoo Rush with a Macronix 2D chip |
| Sound | AWE64 "Standard" 512KB RAM Also called "Value", though this model of the card is the one released alongside the Gold (no PC '97 coloring) |
| Storage | some Seagate 20GB HDD |
| Extras | Realtek RTL8139 NIC |
| Operating System | Windows 95 |
What's up with it?: One of the most 90s setups, and one of the most 90s PC cases you can get. This build is supposed to be an alternative outlook on the Windows 95-era computing and gaming, but I’ve ran out of parts before I could wrap it up. Since putting it on the backburner I’ve come up with a few ideas of giving this PC some extra pizzazz.
Variety - the spice of life: I wanted to use parts that aren’t “top priority” for S7 builds. I’ve noticed that in the retro computing scene, particularly concerning ‘90s and early ‘00s builds people tend to stick to mainstays, what’s regarded as good or best, and I can be accused of this myself – not without reason was I hunting one particular Socket 7 board for a few years. The result of that is that soooo many builds are very similar – for instance, socket 7 builds usually go like this: K6 / P233 MMX, HX/TX chipset, 32-64MB RAM, S3 Virge/DX or Matrox Mystique, Voodoo 1, AWE64 or a Soundblaster + wavetable like a Dreamblaster S2/X2. Again, I did this crime too. Don’t get me wrong here – I’m not criticizing those builds and people who build them in any way; this is not the point. A likely reason for the popularity of such builds is that they offer good performance, good compatibility, and were somebody’s actual setups back in the day or one they aspired to have. The point is that we collectively skip over what makes this era of computing so interesting and captivating - variety.
As such, my long-term goal with some part of my retro PCs is to have a big variety of the weird and wonderful parts that made up computers of this era. Their performance largely does not matter, as it’s not the #1 metric in terms of importance (having said that I’d love to do a hardware shootout like Maximum PC or Tom’s Hardware), but rather, to have a Cyrix PC, a clone chipset PC, something with a Ati Rage 3D that is broadly ignored, and then, the cherry on top – to have PCs with different sound cards. There were SO MANY different options to choose from, both in OPL/SB chip and wavetable. I’m no collector like some people (although I envy their collections strongly), but I’d like to have a few with different wavetable chips – ADMOS, Dream, Crystal and ESS, to name a few. And don’t get me started on chipsets (my dream is to collect all chipsets released for the Socket 7 platform, which is a number).
A shorter way to put it would be to have early, mid-cycle, and late Socket 7 setups somewhere in the future. It was probably the most “flexible” platform after LGA775 and I feel it deserves proper regard, attention and exposure to its variety.
Future plans: The Pentium 75 is the biggest eyesore here and it doesn’t fit the later HX chipset present on the PCChips A101 motherboard. Originally this build had the early FX chipset motherboard, but it didn’t want to play ball with my hard drives and while allegedly its later bios supported hard drives up to 127GB, the BIOS was non-flashable and I didn’t want to wait once again for a proper chip, solder it in, flash, test, test again, and so on. I then built it around the motherboard, creating a later ’97 or so build, and the CPU was left over purely because I don’t have any other Socket 7 CPU on hand, sadly. A K6-300 isn’t compatible with the board as far as I’m aware, and even then it would be more powerful than my S7 Multimedia Monster, so it would require more powerful parts. So the P75 is stays for now. I wouldn’t change much in the specs, only swap the CPU for a K5 or 6x86 PR166 or something, and maybe swap the motherboard for one with one of those funky “VXPro” chipsets. I’m also thinking about a different sound card – an Aztech card with a genuine OPL and an unusual Samsung KS0164 onboard wavetable – but getting it to work and gathering proper drivers has been a bit of a hassle so far. I need to test it.
| Specs | |
|---|---|
| Mobo | PCChips A101 (Socket 7, AT) Alternatively a VXPro or other badge-engineered chipset board |
| Chipset | Intel 430VX or badge-engineered VIA/SiS chipset |
| CPU | Cyrix 6x86 PR166 |
| RAM | 24MB EDO (2x8MB, 2x4MB) |
| GPU | S3 Virge/GX (like a DX with faster memory) 4MB VRAM If I ever manage to get the aforementioned Voodoo Rush stable, I'll use it |
| Sound | Aztech Sound... something (they have a confusing naming scheme) AZT3320 (OPL) + Samsung KS0164 onboard wavetable (1MB) |
| Storage | some Seagate 20GB HDD |
| Extras | Realtek RTL8139 NIC |
| Operating System | Windows 95 |
Some time ago, I managed to find some curious and decidedly rare information. The case this PC comes in was originally part of a OEM PC that marketed itself as an unbelievably cheap for its performance computer, and its primary market were youngsters, highschoolers and adolescents – that’s what I can gather from one ad that’s archived from a VHS tape (here). I managed to find a listing for a computer in the exact same case and was able to write down its specs. From what I gather, they are true to factory and that’s the spec this PC would be sold to people. Here they are:
| "OG" spec (1996-1997) | |
|---|---|
| Mobo | FIC VA-501 (Socket 7, AT) |
| Chipset | VIA Apollo VP |
| CPU | Intel Pentium 150MHz (its big marketing point) without a fan, heatsink only! |
| RAM | 16MB EDO (2x8MB) |
| GPU | S3 Trio64V+ 2MB VRAM |
| Sound | not sure, Genius Crystal or Avance Logic sound card from around that time period |
| Storage | some Seagate 20GB HDD |
| Extras | None, though I'd keep the NIC from the current spec |
| Operating System | Most likely DOS 6.22, possibly with Win3.11 |
It might be a really cool to try and recreate that spec. I love custom PCs as much as the next man, but I have a soft spot for OEM stuff and original hardware as well. The fact that this isn’t some oddball mish-mash like my Packard Bell makes the idea even more enticing.
