Dominator
Adam L January 01, 1999Specifications
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Era | 1999 |
| Built | 2022-07-22 |
| Condition | Working |
| Case | CIT Hero |
| Motherboard | Aopen AX3S Pro |
| Chipset | Intel i815E |
| Socket | 370 |
| Processor | Intel Pentium 3 Coppermine |
| Speed | 600 MHz |
| RAM | 384 MB SDRAM |
| Storage | Seagate ST318452LC 18.2GB 15K SCSI drive |
| CD-ROM Drive | LG CRD-8484B |
| GPU | MSI GeForce 2 TI AGP |
| Expansion Slot | Sound Blaster Live! (SB0100) |
| Expansion Slot | Adaptec SCSI Controller ASC-19160 |
| Expansion Slot | RealTek 8139D PCI Fast Ethernet |
| CPU-Z Score (1.03) | CPU: 969, FPU: 4206 |
Note: I also have a 1 GHz (Coppermine Celeron) for this machine but that is not faithful to the era.
The year is 1999, Unreal Tournament has just hit the shelves, the GPU market was a warzone and CPU clocks were ramping up fast.
This build is a top-spec machine that would've been very expensive in the late '90s
Just one year after MoreVoodoo the CPU clocks are more than double what we previously had available, that is, if you had the cash.
Update: 2022-11-21
I have a new case coming for this machine, it should be here in a few days, and then I can get it fully built out.
Not only that, I have sourced an Ultra3 (U160) 18GB hard drive, two 9.1GB drives, a controller card and appropriate cabling. At present, I'm currently negotiating with the owner for a fair price.
Update: 2022-12-17
GeForce 2 Ti has suffered a VRAM failure, I'm now attempting to locate a new one.
Update: 2023-01-02
I removed Windows 98 and did a fresh install of Windows 2000 instead.
A new Inno3D branded GeForce 2 Ti was installed, I replaced the stock fan and heatsink due to bearing failure.
I applied new thermal paste as well for good measure.
I'm also considering removing 128MB of the RAM to make it 256MB which would be far more realistic for the time when even top-end machines had 128MB.
With regards to hard drives, I haven't given up on a 15K RPM drive, I've taken delivery of 2 drives both of which are not working, one of them was brand new but both still refused to spin up properly.
Update: 2023-01-22
Brand new Seagate ST318452LC installed, cloned the OS from the other drive, which now only has 3 hours runtime total, to save room within the case I've removed the two 9.1GB drivers as it was making cabling within the case (which isn't very big) a nightmare since they use wide 80-cable ribbons.
Whilst I had the side panel off, I also installed a Sound Blaster Live!, a RealTek 8139D PCI Fast Ethernet card and a Lite-On LTN-486S CD-ROM which is black to match the case and closer to the period than the temporary drive I used.
Update: 2023-12-28
After doing some more tests, it seems that there was nothing wrong with the other hard drives that wouldn't spin up properly, it was simply a case that the PSU didn't appreciate the amount of current being drawn, the moral of the story is: Don't use SATA to LP4 adapters, there is a high chance that the PSU simply is not designed to power the older Molex style devices and connecting them to the SATA power will just cause the PSU detect an over-current event and reset/shut off the power. Modern PSUs are only designed to deliver a much lower amount of current for low power SATA devices like SSDs, some HDDs and CD drives but these 15K RPM drives can pull upto 3.5 Amps on the 12V rail and 2 Amps on the 5V rail during spin up.
- Moved the hard drive into a hotswap bay so I can test different operating systems much more easily.
- Clean re-installs of Gentoo and Windows 2000.
- Added CPU benchmark scores.
- Switched the LiteOn CD-ROM for an LG-8484B which is much quieter.
