{"id":30678,"date":"2019-10-31T21:36:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T18:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prohoster.info\/blog\/novaya-statya-sobiraem-kompyuter-mechty-20-let-nazad\/"},"modified":"2019-10-31T21:36:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T18:36:51","slug":"novaya-statya-sobiraem-kompyuter-mechty-20-let-nazad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prohoster.info\/en\/blog\/news\/novaya-statya-sobiraem-kompyuter-mechty-20-let-nazad","title":{"rendered":"New article: Building the computer of your dreams\u2026 20 years ago","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

For two years now, 3DNews has had a column titled 'Computer of the Month', where we examine the optimal hardware configurations based on customer needs and budget. However, our website has been around since 1997, and we had not conceived of any 'Computer of the Month' back then. What if we mentally transported ourselves to the distant past of the IT industry (not necessarily to the very beginning of 3DNews, but let's say twenty years ago) and imagined what combination of devices was possible at that time? On one condition \u2014 we won't restrict ourselves financially and will assemble a computer limited only by our imagination, as long as the hardware remains within that era. Then, we'll check what the dream system of that time is capable of in the most demanding games of the millennium's edge, as our goal is to create an uncompromising gaming PC.<\/p>\n

Single-processor platform on Pentium III<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When choosing a computer based on the standards of 1999\u20132000, one can go in one of two directions, opting for an Intel platform with a Pentium III processor or an alternative from AMD with an Athlon CPU. The IT industry archaeologist faces a tough choice, as both architectures were equally good at the time for building a powerful gaming computer. Moreover, AMD chips with the Thunderbird core had the advantage of motherboards supporting DDR SDRAM. The most informed readers may note that there are also motherboards with DDR slots or even RDRAM for Pentium III, but this is still exotic and hard to find for sale today. In any case, we decided to go with Pentium III \u2014 mainly for sentimental reasons, since in 2000 Intel fully committed to the new NetBurst architecture and Pentium 4 chips. Thus, the later releases of Pentium III marked the end of an era, while the Athlon on the K7 architecture continued to develop successfully.<\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

Having settled on the platform, we need to choose a specific CPU modification. If we are not going to stray from the round date of '20 years ago' and adhere to the strict timeframe of 1999, the choice comes down to one of the models based on the Coppermine core. However, let's broaden the conditions of the task. What if we push the Pentium III platform to the limit of its capabilities? Then the choice of CPU is obvious \u2014 it's the Pentium III-S on the Tualatin core with a stock frequency of 1.43 GHz! And the motherboard to match it is the Abit ST6 on the Intel 815EP chipset. Long-time users remember that this is one of the best boards for overclocking the Pentium III, so we seized the opportunity to overclock the CPU to 1.68 GHz. The RAM slots were filled with three PC-133 modules summing up to 384 MB \u2014 the board can handle twice as much memory, but for gaming tests, that is not necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Abit ST6 motherboard lacks an onboard network card, as at that time, having a computer without internet access was completely normal. A suitable adapter from 3Com, the 3C905B-TX with a standard of 100 Mbps, solved this problem. However, on the front of the disk subsystem, we cheated a bit and connected an SSD using the PROMISE Technology SATA300 TX2Plus controller: the loading speed of the OS and programs from an IDE disk is not the kind of experience one wants to endure decades later.<\/p>\n

Dual-Processor Platform on Pentium III<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Abit ST6 motherboard and the overclocked Pentium III-S \u2014 such a computer was something most of us could only dream of 20 years ago. However, as time has shown, we should have dreamed of a dual-core system. Of course, most software for home PCs, not to mention games, could not utilize two CPUs back then, but the hardware had that potential, and we are taking advantage of it now.<\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

Originally, this article was planned to feature a dual-socket motherboard, the ASUS CUV4X-DL \u2014 officially, it is not compatible with Tualatin chips, but it can accommodate two Pentium III-S processors after modifying the sockets (or using adapters). Unfortunately, our specimen turned out to be half-dead, but an equivalent replacement emerged in the form of the Intel SAI2 on the ServerWorks ServerSet III LE chipset. Moreover, this board allowed us to reach 2 GB of RAM thanks to four registered PC-133 modules. Agree, this configuration already looks quite modern, especially with an SSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This platform has just one critical flaw \u2014 the lack of an AGP slot, which significantly limits the choice of graphics card for the dual-headed Pentium III-S compared to the Abit ST6. Fortunately, the SAI2 board features not only standard 32-bit PCI slots but also two 64-bit PCI-X slots, for which suitable video cards are available. One of these we occupied with the Adaptec ASR-2230SLP\/256 RAID controller for the Ultra-320 SCSI bus and assembled a RAID-0 disk array from three Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 hard drives with a spindle speed of 15,000 RPM. Of course, even an array of three 15k server drives is no match for an SSD, but still, in terms of OS boot time and software installation, RAID provides a significant advantage over a single hard drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Graphics Cards<\/strong><\/p>\n

When selecting graphics cards for the test, we focused more on a specific level of technology rather than strict time constraints. The Pentium III-S processor operating at 1.43 GHz came out in 2002: it was not long before the GeForce 3 and Radeon 8500 were released. However, programmable shaders represent a significant turning point in the history of GPUs, which we decided to stop at. On the other hand, graphics cards from the time when the term Graphics Processing Unit (which, by the way, was coined by NVIDIA specifically for the GeForce 256) was not yet widely used, hardly serve for a dream build on a top-tier Pentium III. The best companion for such a system \u2014 both chronologically and historically significant \u2014 would be one of the early models with hardware T&L: either the NVIDIA GeForce 256 or the ATi Radeon DDR.<\/p>\n

The GeForce 256 needs no introduction \u2014 it is the firstborn of the GeForce family, based on the NV10 processor. Its vast transistor budget at the time (17 million using a 220 nm process) allowed NVIDIA to integrate a geometry engine into the GPU, which handled transformation and lighting of polygons. However, the potential of this feature was only fully realized in later iterations of the architecture, when the performance of the central processor could no longer efficiently support a GPU lacking hardware T&L.<\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

An important event for 3D accelerators was the transition from the outdated SDRAM memory standard to the advanced DDR SDRAM, allowing GPUs to double the bandwidth of the frame buffer. NVIDIA launched a video card based on the NV10 with DDR chips shortly after the original GeForce 256 was released, but instead, we opted for the next model \u2014 the GeForce 2 GTS. This model differs from the GeForce 256 not only in the type of memory but also by doubling the number of texture mapping units. Additionally, the GeForce 2 GTS features early pixel shader capabilities, which, of course, were largely ignored by game developers at the time. Overall, the GeForce 2 GTS is merely a continuation of the ideas laid down in the GeForce 256.<\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

The very first Radeon, like the GeForce 256, eventually became the precursor to its own family of graphics cards. This device made ATi one of the leading contenders in the discrete GPU market \u2014 at least in terms of technology. The R100 chip embodied all the best features available from NVIDIA at that time: hardware T&L and support for DDR SDRAM. Due to architectural limitations, the Radeon DDR did not have a high fill rate compared to the GeForce 2 GTS, its main competitor. However, the R100 had an important advantage \u2014 the Z-Culling feature at early stages of the pipeline. Thanks to this, the Radeon DDR effectively utilized the massive bandwidth of DDR chips and was able to compete on par with its rival when rendering in 32-bit color.<\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

At the time when the GeForce 256 and Radeon DDR appeared, NVIDIA and ATi (now AMD) had yet to split the market for discrete graphics cards. The company 3dfx was nearing its end, and its swan song became the Voodoo5 5500 accelerator. The best graphics card that 3dfx managed to release was based on two VSA-100 chips connected via an SLI interface \u2014 the developers of this architecture initially planned to enhance performance by integrating several discrete GPUs onto a single board (up to four in the case of the Voodoo5 6000). A single VSA-100 processor is fundamentally not very different from the previous generation Avenger chip (Voodoo3 series). The main advancement made by 3dfx was support for rendering in 32-bit color, which all previous devices from this company lacked. However, when two VSA-100 chips with SDRAM work together, the graphics card has access to the same bandwidth as DDR memory. Furthermore, the VSA-100 has a feature that far surpassed its time: a hardware buffer that accumulates the rendering results of several frames (T-Buffer). Thanks to the T-Buffer, the accelerator can achieve effects such as high-quality full-screen anti-aliasing, motion blur, or even imitation of shooting with an open aperture by blurring the background. Many years later, unofficial drivers for Voodoo5 introduced the feature of temporal anti-aliasing, which utilizes data from several consecutive frames.<\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

All of the aforementioned graphics cards were produced in configurations with AGP or PCI interfaces. Thus, any of them can fit into a dual-processor system on an Intel SAI2 motherboard. Unfortunately, the test samples of the GeForce 256, GeForce 2 GTS, Radeon DDR, and Voodoo5 5500 that we have available operate on the AGP bus, so we'll need to look for alternatives for the SAI2 \u2014 for instance, the classic duo of Voodoo2 cards connected via an SLI bridge. Given this, why not add the Voodoo3 3000 to the test roster \u2014 at least for a comparison with the Voodoo5 5500, which is architecturally close to the Avenger chip? After all, Voodoo offers always interesting insights, especially since GeForce and Radeon are still with us, while 3dfx devices have long since become part of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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After weighing all the pros and cons, we've added another participant to the testing list - the Matrox Parhelia accelerator with a PCI interface. On one hand, we agreed not to touch graphics cards with programmable shaders, and Parhelia is a device from the same period with capabilities similar to the GeForce 3, GeForce 4, and Radeon 8500. On the other hand, the Parhelia-512 from 2002 is one of the latest high-performance GPUs that were mass-produced on PCI boards, and not just any PCI, but a 64-bit PCI-X. Its testing will reveal the maximum performance achievable on the Intel SAI2 board.<\/p>\n

\"New
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Source: 3dnews.ru<\/a><\/p>","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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