3dfx Archive - Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!?

FalconFly YaBB Administrator Offline 3dfx Archivist Posts: 2445 5335N 00745E Gender:	Re: What do you guys think of this? Real or fake? Reply #15 - 14.09.04 at 23:12:34 hint There is no EDO-RAM in there, those are 3 standard SD-RAM Slots And IMHO, no Pentium II Motherboard was ever built with EDO-RAM support.
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Re: What do you guys think of this? Real or fake?
Reply #16 - 15.09.04 at 00:06:07

Quote:

*hint*

There is no EDO-RAM in there, those are 3 standard SD-RAM Slots Wink

And IMHO, no Pentium II Motherboard was ever built with EDO-RAM support.

Quote from Quantum3d press release-

"266MHz Intel Pentium II processor with 32 Megabytes of EDO RAM"

Find out soon enough =)

The PII-266 ran at 66 mhz bus, same as P-100, 133, 166, 200. No reason a PII could not run EDO ram if the motherboard supported it.

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« Last Edit: 15.09.04 at 00:07:57 by gdonovan »

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FalconFly

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Re: What do you guys think of this? Real or fake?
Reply #17 - 15.09.04 at 00:23:21

Well, the Image clearly shows 3 full slots of SD-RAM...

EDO-RAM always came in pairs of 2 for 32bit Systems (pairs of 4 for 64bit Workstations), and had to be mounted in a tilted manner, just like PS/2 RAM.

What "might" be, however, is that this System is equipped with the extremely rare ESDRAM (SD-RAM based EDO derivate, very expensive, and just about never used)...

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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: What do you guys think of this? Real or fake? Reply #18 - 15.09.04 at 03:08:31 Quote: EDO-RAM always came in pairs of 2 for 32bit Systems Well now that you mention it your 100% correct, I forgot all about that. EDO is always installed in pairs unless it's a 486... which I think we can discount that as a possibility!
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Re: What do you guys think of this? Real or fake?
Reply #19 - 21.11.04 at 03:40:56

RELENTLESS PERSISTANCE PAYS OFF- Almost 6 months since I was contacted by the seller and here it is!

Specs- PII 333 with 96 MB of ram, Intel LX ATX motherboard with dual 2.1 gig WD harddrives.

Unwiped. Hard. Drives. =)

Even better the admin was lazy and left his password blank, I was running around the office whooping at the top of my lungs when it logged in on the second try.

Current video is a Matrox AGP, I suspect <chuckle> it didn't ship from Quantum3D in that configuration. The drivers present on the drive indicate it had either a 90-4440 or 200SB.

I'm going to have to examine things in a careful & methodical manner to figure out what Quantum3D card is missing so I can restore it. Looking in the registry shows listings for Obsidian AND Obsidian 2/NX.

I suspect it shipped with an Obsidian card and then was upgraded to Obsidain2 later on.

The main hard drive is dated 'Oct 1997.

More later, have to head out to the store.

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« Last Edit: 21.11.04 at 03:42:02 by gdonovan »

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gamma742 God Member Offline 3Dfx Gamer Posts: 1668 San Diego, CA USA Gender:	Re: What do you guys think of this? Real or fake? Reply #20 - 21.11.04 at 04:05:47 Dang if that don't look like my Intel Seattle BX II motherboard I'm try to build a merc with.
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Re: What do you guys think of this? Real or fake?
Reply #21 - 21.11.04 at 19:18:06

Looks like the software that was on the hard drive relates to defense simulations.

I tried installing a 200SB *but* something does not work correct, there is an error when a program is run or trying to access the control panel.

Looking through Quantum3D documents there is mention that boards could be configured with a software key on board (indeed the x-24 and 200SB have a "bios" chip with decal) to prevent software theft.

I suspect for "high end" applications like this a dongle is also required too.

It looks like the Windows NT4 workstation install is original as Quantum3D sales and service is listed as the registered computer owner. =)

I'll have to pick over the drive careful as there is some 3dfx docs in the directorys that might not be in the FF archive or generally available.

There is some clues as to where the box came from on the drive, I may contact the company and see if they have any other units to rid themselves of *if* I can figure a discrete enough way of approaching their IT dept.

Last thing I want to do is call up and go hey- I have this old computer loaded with what might be old DOD software that I traced back to you, 'ya have any more?

LOL!

I think heads would roll.

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« Last Edit: 21.11.04 at 19:19:18 by gdonovan »

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Re: Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!?
Reply #22 - 20.12.04 at 17:57:14

I'll have a page up tonight perhaps if it's quiet around the house... I found some real amazing things on this computers hard drive.

1) Looks like it was setup July 1998.

2) It looks like it hasn't been used since 1999.

3) Dual boot system (Win95b and NT4)

4) First VGA video card was an ATI Rage.

5) Only installed Quantum3D board was *pre-production* Obsidian2 200SB. This is based on registry, drivers and text file in c:\

Quote- "Prior to bring the system all the way up I recommend that you open the system and press the two halves of the Obsidian card together. This is because it is a pre-production card without proper stand-offs."

6) Computer is identified under network settings as-

Workgroup = Quantum3D
Computer name = HEAVYMETAL1

(shortened from HEAVYMETAL15 I assume judging by #15 tag on back of computer)

7) Browser cache was intact and contents were dated Oct, 20th 1998! ATI, Intel and Quantum3D's sites were the only ones accessed. New ATI drivers were downloaded as was a new Intel bios. From the Quantum3D site Obsidian2 drivers were download as was an opengvs demo with the zip file still in cache! Woop!!

The Quantum3D site cache had images I have not seen before and will reconstruct the page shortly for local viewing.

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« Last Edit: 20.12.04 at 18:00:55 by gdonovan »

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gamma742 God Member Offline 3Dfx Gamer Posts: 1668 San Diego, CA USA Gender:	Re: Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!? Reply #23 - 21.12.04 at 07:11:50 Is the QuickSilver case the same size as the Mercury?
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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!? Reply #24 - 21.12.04 at 13:34:09 Quote: Is the QuickSilver case the same size as the Mercury? Yes.
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Obi-Wan_Kenobi Ex Member	Re: Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!? Reply #25 - 21.12.04 at 15:50:07 hey Gary is that an A-Open 20X AKU CD-Rom drive with MRTP technology?
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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!? Reply #26 - 21.12.04 at 15:59:35 No idea nor have I dissassembled the unit to check build date. I suspect it's original since the unit appears to have been little used.
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gamma742 God Member Offline 3Dfx Gamer Posts: 1668 San Diego, CA USA Gender:	Re: Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!? Reply #27 - 24.12.04 at 04:11:20 Let us know if you get any tech demos running on it with your 200SB or SBi card.
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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Quicksilver!? OR Heavy Metal!? Reply #28 - 24.12.04 at 04:29:05 Will be a bit, lots on my plate right now.
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