What retro things have you done today?
- Thread starter Duke
- Start date
Speaking of overkill mid-to-late 2000s builds, here's my Lian-Li PC-A71F, Tyan S3992, Dual Opteron 2356, 64GB RAM, HD5970 build that's in progress.
Still need A beefy PSU, some storage, tempted to put a decent SAS card in it, as I've got a glut of spare 15k drives. Still going to use an SSD for the boot volume though.
A second 5970 wouldn't go a-miss either
Still need A beefy PSU, some storage, tempted to put a decent SAS card in it, as I've got a glut of spare 15k drives. Still going to use an SSD for the boot volume though.
A second 5970 wouldn't go a-miss either
As a fellow LX owner - this was the option I took - was noticeably quicker than any of the 66mhz PIIs
Thanks again mate!
Speaking of overkill mid-to-late 2000s builds, here's my Lian-Li PC-A71F, Tyan S3992, Dual Opteron 2356, 64GB RAM, HD5970 build that's in progress.
Still need A beefy PSU, some storage, tempted to put a decent SAS card in it, as I've got a glut of spare 15k drives. Still going to use an SSD for the boot volume though.
A second 5970 wouldn't go a-miss either
OK that’s freaking awesome. Wow.
I think I figured out what’s up with the XPS 730, it’s both ram sensitive and on closer inspection a few capacitors on the motherboard are failing. I’ve ordered some replacements and a cheap solder iron - never changed them before so off to watch some YouTube guides haha.
Make sure you get some nice flux and possibly a PCB holder, makes a world of difference
Chris
Nice, how much if you dont mind me asking? What's a ceramic cooling system? Sounds posh!
I paid £120 for it - who knows what they are really worth? I figured that was a good price - the two 9800GX2’s are easily worth that alone!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2Ceramic_cooling
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2Ceramic_cooling
and pre heat the board with hairdryer or heat gun
OK - thanks both. Never done this before so it’s my first attempt. I got some flux. What’s the purpose of heating the board first?
the rails that that the caps are on can be quite big amounts of copper that take ages for a soldering iron to heat up, I learned this the hard way my little soldering iron couldnt even melt the solder on a GPU I was trying to recap.
Ah I see thanks. So warm it all up with a hair dryer first off and hope that helps. Fingers crossed!!
Good leaded solder is also a must. The stuff on the board will be lead free and harder to work with. Getting some leaded on your soldering iron and working it into the existing solder will make if FAR easier to work with.
Assuming you aren't going to be getting a desoldering iron, you want some good desoldering braid/wick as well, something like Goot Wick.
Assuming you aren't going to be getting a desoldering iron, you want some good desoldering braid/wick as well, something like Goot Wick.
Guys, I think this is beyond me LOL. I’ve just tried to remove one but it essentially fell out and has left two tiny legs in the board. I’ve tried heating them up, applying new solder, everything. Can’t get them to budge. Might have to pay someone who actually knows what they are doing to help me out as I can see me cocking this board up otherwise. Eeeeek!!
Today I installed the new GRS Flight Yoke in my Arcade1Up Star Wars cab. The yoke (like the cab) was imported from the USA.
The only obvious clue that it's not the original yoke is the lack of an Atari Logo due to licensing issues.
Reason for changing the yoke? The original is plastic and has a bit of a dead-zone, so long term durability could be an issue, and it was hard to target near the centre of the screen.
The new yoke (solid metal apart from the hand grips, and uses hall effect sensors) feels much more accurate, though the feel is quite different so it's going to take a bit of getting used to. I don't like the trigger buttons much as the microswitches are too clicky, but I might be able to swap them out for better ones.
BTW the Yoke comes with a USB connection so you can also play PC games or Mame with it.
The Arcade1Up Star Wars machine plays just like the original, and the vector effects are spot-on. It looks much better than other emulations I've seen. It's a stunning cabinet, and at 3/4 scale (plus riser) doesn't take up a lot of room.
Pity it's not officially on sale over here. I had to get a US import for considerably more than it costs in the USA.
The only obvious clue that it's not the original yoke is the lack of an Atari Logo due to licensing issues.
Reason for changing the yoke? The original is plastic and has a bit of a dead-zone, so long term durability could be an issue, and it was hard to target near the centre of the screen.
The new yoke (solid metal apart from the hand grips, and uses hall effect sensors) feels much more accurate, though the feel is quite different so it's going to take a bit of getting used to. I don't like the trigger buttons much as the microswitches are too clicky, but I might be able to swap them out for better ones.
BTW the Yoke comes with a USB connection so you can also play PC games or Mame with it.
The Arcade1Up Star Wars machine plays just like the original, and the vector effects are spot-on. It looks much better than other emulations I've seen. It's a stunning cabinet, and at 3/4 scale (plus riser) doesn't take up a lot of room.
Pity it's not officially on sale over here. I had to get a US import for considerably more than it costs in the USA.
With only basic/cheap tools it’s all too easy to fail, or even make things worse. I still mess up from time to time and I’ve got access to a board pre-heater, a hot air reflow station, a decent soldering iron, a microscope and a desoldering gun.
If you aren’t confident then knowing when to call it a day is a good trait to have!
Yep, I’m not going to attempt to do anymore. I found a guy locally who says he can replace the rest for me. My equipment is too poor and my hands are too shaky.
I wanted to test the board to make sure I hadn’t cocked it up - it works perfectly fine without the single 1500uf 6.3v capacitor that was next to the northbridge. I assume this acted as a filter or something for it? I guess long term it’s not sensible to use it without the capacitor in place - but it is working without it
I wanted to test the board to make sure I hadn’t cocked it up - it works perfectly fine without the single 1500uf 6.3v capacitor that was next to the northbridge. I assume this acted as a filter or something for it? I guess long term it’s not sensible to use it without the capacitor in place - but it is working without it