LSDguy Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 So I came up on an old Dell GX280/Two of them actually but this one I have been tinkering with. 512mb RAM, 40gb hdd, Pentium 4 2.8ghz. It was running xp but was setup for an old office network. So for shits and giggles I installed Windows 7 x86 32bit on it! It runs, a bit slow, but it runs. lol. Now the fun part, I going to upgrade this old beast with some new memory and a low profile graphics card. The maximum memory for this system is 2gb I believe. 10 dollars on Amazon! Yay! Gotta love old computer hardware. Also, the low profile graphics card will be an nvidia 8400gs. About 20-35 bucks on amazon. I may use the first pc as networked media center for my bedroom. I have a pc for work and music in there but I am tired of dual screening and switching resolution settings....OR if the performance improves enough, it will become the guts of my summer Bar-Top project. Here's a question though, with the specs above, which systems do you speculate will have trouble running on this machine once upgraded? I feel like Dreamcast and PSone may be out, but that is just speculation. Maybe I'll post some pics and video. Thanks Homies, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 yo yo! Bump on this one guys, any thoughts! Just ordered a 2g ram upgrade and 8400gs graphics card for it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigapig Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I'm collecting some old PC gear to use in a cocktail table if I ever build one. I figured it may only run mame, and really that's all I want it to run, thats plenty enough games for a cocktail. But is mame getting more hunger for system power?? I'll have to wait and see. The thing is once the thing is built or even in advance, setup the PC and try Dreamcast on it, if it doesn't work try the previous generation. That's what I would do, and perhaps the only way to be sure. I wouldn't want anything with analog sticks anyway. Was the 2gb limit dictated by the mobo? XP x86 has a limit of just over 2gb. Stick in a 120gb or 250gb SSD if you don't have any CD based systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgruessing68 Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 On the later Pentium 4 boards running XP, you could put 4 gig of memory in...but only about 3.5 gig was available for use because of the 32 bit address space. I'm running a late Intel board with a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 chip with 4 gig of physical memory and 4 terabytes of disk space across 4 disks... works great for everything up to about Dreamcast... all the old retro arcade and consoles work fantastic for me on this setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 On the later Pentium 4 boards running XP, you could put 4 gig of memory in...but only about 3.5 gig was available for use because of the 32 bit address space. I'm running a late Intel board with a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 chip with 4 gig of physical memory and 4 terabytes of disk space across 4 disks... works great for everything up to about Dreamcast... all the old retro arcade and consoles work fantastic for me on this setup. Yeah man. It's running a 2.8ghZ p4. I bought the 2 gigs of ram because it was super cheap. 11 bucks and I figure no game console needs more than that and no video needs more than that. What is your experience with load times for Laser disc games? Do they run well with your setup? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 Giga...Yeah there is limit of about 3gigs of ram on the x86 architecture of the p4 I have for everything. You can put 4gigs in but only 3 will be available like the homie said above . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazzardActual Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 im about to dive into a bartop cab using an old hp laptop. i havent decided if i want to try and used the laptop screen and just extend the cables or just go vga/dvi. Question? has anyone permanently affixed a laptop power supply to the case/mobo? I have this idea that i want to just cut the plug that goes into the laptop and take out the plug receptor on the mobo and solder the connections on. im not sure if this is a good idea or not, but this thing has no battery power left and i'd hate for it to come unplugged during a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgruessing68 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 I am only using the Daphne games on this setup... they take awhile to load, but not too bad... 10-30 seconds? Once they are loaded, the ones I have played have all played aok... When I first built the machine, I was also using a 2.8 GHz board, and I swapped it for the high end intel board at 3.6 GHz. There was a big difference... so, your mileage may vary from mine. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgruessing68 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 That's actually a clever idea to use a laptop for a bartop... if you design the bartop based on the laptop, you could securely fix the laptop to the case. You could even put hinges on the CP so you could lift it to use the laptop keyboard maybe... that would be neat. I've only retrofit full size arcade cabs, but it seems to me that the less you have to hack the laptop, the easier everything will be. Perhaps industrial-strength velco will help? :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 I am only using the Daphne games on this setup... they take awhile to load, but not too bad... 10-30 seconds? Once they are loaded, the ones I have played have all played aok...When I first built the machine, I was also using a 2.8 GHz board, and I swapped it for the high end intel board at 3.6 GHz. There was a big difference... so, your mileage may vary from mine. Good luck! How much did that other board run you? Got a link bro? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgruessing68 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 How much did that other board run you? Got a link bro?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk It was a few years ago now off of Ebay... The 945-based board was about $40, and I put the fastest DDR2 memory it supported (bus clock at 800 Mhz?). Looking now.... there's slim pickins on those... closes I could find was this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LGA-775-Intel-Coryville-945G-Motherboard-w-Pentium-4-550-SL7J8-w-Freezer-Pro-7-/181420666494?pt=US_Motherboard_CPU_Combos&hash=item2a3d83ae7e I wouldn't bother unless it's no more than about $30 for both mobo and CPU and CPU at least 3.4 GHz or higher. Otherwise, it's gonna bog down on the I/O intensive games and consoles. You'll be disappointed. The faster Pentium 4's get wicked got, so you'll need a massive heatsink on that puppy. Drop 4G mem in it, and put the best PCIx graphics card in that it will support. The card shouldn't be more than $40 either. I run a stripped down version of XP Pro on mine. I am planning to buy another screamer just for the late 90's arcades and later following consoles. Just haven't gotten to it yet. I've got a couple drives loaded up waiting for a rainy day. Expecting to spend about $400 for that board combo. Besides, playing hires modern games on my old Midway cab seems wrong anyhow. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 Cool man! I'll do what I can with what I got! With 2 gigs of ram and 8400gs upgrade. I have a gx270 aside from the gx280 that I will mess with as well. Fun summer projects! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgruessing68 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 A good torture test for an old PC is trying to run something like Crazy Taxi on a dreamcast emulator. With nullDC, it almost works on my setup, except when the screen gets too busy... Then it's like putting the Offspring through an echo chamber... LOL. If you've played the game, that will make total sense. Love that mindless game! If you stick to the Classic Arcades, Ataris, Pre-Wii Nintendos, and Segas and the like...you'll have no problem with an older setup. Hell, that's still potentially tens of thousands of games... and I grew up in the 80's, so it works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 A good torture test for an old PC is trying to run something like Crazy Taxi on a dreamcast emulator. With nullDC, it almost works on my setup, except when the screen gets too busy... Then it's like putting the Offspring through an echo chamber... LOL. If you've played the game, that will make total sense. Love that mindless game! If you stick to the Classic Arcades, Ataris, Pre-Wii Nintendos, and Segas and the like...you'll have no problem with an older setup. Hell, that's still potentially tens of thousands of games... and I grew up in the 80's, so it works for me. "Yah yah yah yahhhhayhayahhyya" dude, hahahaha I get the reference! Yeah I know for sure it will play all the oldies! Which is great! I more than anything want those laser disc games on their. They are so damn impressive to this day! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 Ok! Pretty cool so far! Was so slow at first with the 512mb ram. Now with 2 gigs it runs awesome, not amazing, but way better!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dark13 Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I'm using a 775 p4 3ghz 1gb ddr400 and 9800gtx as htpc (and for low demand emulators). Latest nulldc version is a bit slow (let's say 80% with vf3), older release runs better. Overclocking? Uhmm... i tested it a 3.8ghz and the difference is not HUGE. Back in the days it seemed A LOT more of improvement You can also install windows seven 32bit but it's a bit slower than xp with emulators (tried with NSMB on dolphin, obviously it is NOT playable) and games (re5, castlevania LOS). Moreover it seems NOT to like my rig and i'm forced to set ram to ultrasafe setting (random crash at 400hmz while xp is stable. Obviously I think it is not a problem of seven with ddr400, my mobo is reported having ram problems with a lot of rigs). A DECENT videocards helps. I swapped from x1550 to 9800gtx (an overkill but my main pc now has a gtx660 ) and SF4, re5, and castlevania LOS become playable (60fps on SF4/sfXtekken, 30 fps with minor slowdon on LOS and RE5). Moreover a dxva compatible videocards is REALLY useful if you plan running 1080p movie. A p4 can't run 1080p movie BUT a decent videocard can render it trought DXVA or cuda . Modern game's engines are helpless, MK komplete is completely unplayable (should test if 1gb ram is an issue more than monocore cpu). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazzardActual Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 That's actually a clever idea to use a laptop for a bartop... if you design the bartop based on the laptop, you could securely fix the laptop to the case. You could even put hinges on the CP so you could lift it to use the laptop keyboard maybe... that would be neat.I've only retrofit full size arcade cabs, but it seems to me that the less you have to hack the laptop, the easier everything will be. Perhaps industrial-strength velco will help? :-) yeah ive seen it done (hopefully will be able to do it myself) where the laptop keys come out in a drawer for mouse and keyboard action. I want to use the lcd screen seeing as its already de-cased, but the bitch part would be running a new custom cable so i COULD put it on a drawer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 yeah ive seen it done (hopefully will be able to do it myself) where the laptop keys come out in a drawer for mouse and keyboard action. I want to use the lcd screen seeing as its already de-cased, but the bitch part would be running a new custom cable so i COULD put it on a drawer... This looks like an awesome mod project dudes! The hardest part is changing the button and joystick. Guy used a replacement LCD screen for iPad 2 and a laptop I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryofax Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I have two of those dells lying around. They each had 1gb so I combined them so one has 2gb now. Tossed in a SATA 250gb I had leftover from something (it came with a 40gb). Not a bad little machine. I'm considering using it as a Linux Mame box for a cab build. The case itself it's kind of cool as it has a very "consolish" look. Might be fun to give the case a paintjob and use it as a little emulator box for stuff up to 4th gen maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 I have two of those dells lying around. They each had 1gb so I combined them so one has 2gb now. Tossed in a SATA 250gb I had leftover from something (it came with a 40gb). Not a bad little machine. I'm considering using it as a Linux Mame box for a cab build. The case itself it's kind of cool as it has a very "consolish" look. Might be fun to give the case a paintjob and use it as a little emulator box for stuff up to 4th gen maybe. Yes dude! I love the case, would love to paint it, so easy access. I need another hdd for it though. I still have the original 40gb, is possible to add an additional hdd by removing the CD-ROM drive? Or add an extra sata card or something? I just bought a CPU upgrade as well, only 8 bucks for a 3.4ghz p4. I was going to original use this for a barrio build. Now I have another media center in my bedroom that streams from my main machine! Pretty sweet! If I want hyperspin all I need at this point is a new hdd. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryofax Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Yes dude! I love the case, would love to paint it, so easy access. I need another hdd for it though. I still have the original 40gb, is possible to add an additional hdd by removing the CD-ROM drive? Or add an extra sata card or something? I just bought a CPU upgrade as well, only 8 bucks for a 3.4ghz p4. I was going to original use this for a barrio build. Now I have another media center in my bedroom that streams from my main machine! Pretty sweet! If I want hyperspin all I need at this point is a new hdd. I might have to look into that CPU upgrade. Sounds like a cheap way to make the thing even more useful. I probably have a decent heatsink lying around for it too. The CD-Drive is a proprietary very thin one, so I don't think another standard HD would slide into that spot. But with some modification, or perhaps with a thinner laptop HD I bet you could do it. I only see one SATA port though so yeah you'd need a card. A cheap low profile AGP graphics card should also extend the capabilities of the machine and fit in that compact case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 I might have to look into that CPU upgrade. Sounds like a cheap way to make the thing even more useful. I probably have a decent heatsink lying around for it too.The CD-Drive is a proprietary very thin one, so I don't think another standard HD would slide into that spot. But with some modification, or perhaps with a thinner laptop HD I bet you could do it. I only see one SATA port though so yeah you'd need q card. A cheap low profile AGP graphics card should also extend the capabilities of the machine and fit in that compact case. I already upgraded the graphics card. It's much better. Nvidia 8400gs 1gb. I may just install a new hdd and reinstall windows. Not like there is a ton of data to replace. WD blue 1tb on Amazon is about 60 bucks....but since I stream media from the living room that maybe over kill considering I'm not going to use disc based games on this system....I'll be on the lookout for a good deal. An ssd would be amazing but dem prices....this all about keeping costs low as possible anyway Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSDguy Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Alright dudes! One more upgrade to go. Just the hard drive! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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