flux1270 wrote on 2025-01-30, 16:51:Hello everyone, […]
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Hello everyone,
I've been a longtime lurker here but decided to finally make an account.
I am wanting to build a Pentium II Xeon workstation sometime this year - for no reason other than it being cool - and I need some advice or suggestions on how to get there. Most of my vintage computing experiences thus far have been with laptops, but I've had a couple older P3/P4 desktops and early Macs over the years as well.
I am primarily interested in using this build as a challenge to myself and as a way to experience early Photoshop and other pro level applications like that on real hardware.
I already have a Pentium II Xeon 450MhZ (512KB cache, 100MhZ FSB) that I scavenged from a server many years ago. It was working when pulled.
My first glance at eBay for Slot 2 motherboards wasn't promising, especially dual-slot units. Any suggestions on that front? I don't have any issue replacing thru-hole capacitors but I haven't braved the SMD world quite yet.
And lastly, in no particular order:
- How much RAM would be appropriate? 512MB? 1GB?
- What would be a good video card choice? I have a Radeon 8600 or something of that era, I believe it's a PCI card but not 100% sure.
Any advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Welcome! The P2/3 Xeons are pretty damn cool. I have 'enough' of them to satisfy my urges, at least for the time being. I have a lot of positive things to say about the ecosystem, and a lot of negatives. So buckle up buck-a-roo!
Slot 2 motherboards were the server/workstation systems to the pedestrian slot 1. The CPU CORE is 99.999% the same as the pleb version, however the L2 cache was bumped up to 2MB and to 100% core speed. At the time, this meant 90% of the $10000 price tag (of the 2MB chips) was the L2 cache. Which had to be painstakingly hand created by nude, grey-beard virgins at the top of mountain peaks, during a full moon, and whenever Mercury was in Gatorade. Naturally you are going to want to get some of these mythical 2MB chips and I'm just going to have you pump the breaks and tell you right now; you have a better chance of finding a virgin in a whore house. The cherry on top? 2MB isnt remotely useful for the vast majority of programs. That kind of cache was only viable if you were doing top-tier, workloads. Think nuclear explosion simulation.
To that end. the vast majority of Slot 2 systems were only sold by OEMs. Dell, HP, Compaq, etc. Supermicro is the only motherboard manufacturer of note to produce "normal" ATX slot-2 boards. Asus made exactly one board, and there are a few others, but these boards are super-ultra-mega-rare. I can count on one hand how many times my ebay saved search as pinged me for the Asus XG-DLS. In fact its TWO, in the last DECADE. The Intel reference board was used in several OEM systems, and is the easiest to come across.
Also, there were several versions of the CPU and subsequent boards. you mentioned only the Pentium 2, so you should stick to boards with the 440GX chipset. The P2 chips *should* all be safe, but make 100% sure your motherboard will support the VOLTAGE listed on the top of the CPU. 2.8V and 5v/12v are the 2 most common. You cannot use a 5v/12v cpu in the XH-DLS for example. There were some boards that did have compatibility, but don't assume here. If you try to use an OEM board, its going to require the whole system. Also, be prepared to use ECC/registered ram. Luckily this stuff is completely passed over by the retro community and you can cheaply and easily (relatively) max out a system with ram.
Once you get the cpu/mobo in your hands, THEN you can start to even think about the other stuff. If you are dead set on Slot 2, this is going to take a massive amount of patience.
Now to address the elephant in the room. Price. Unless you get lucky, I mean 1 in a million lucky, you are going to pay through the nose for a non OEM motherboard if you even find one at all. If your only concern is to fart around with old photoshop, the experience is going to be 99.9% the same on a dual slot 1. You can get dual slot 1 boards all day off ebay if you can stomach the stupid price. It's not nearly as bad as Slot 2, mind you.
so ultimately, my advise is to leave the xeon you have on the shelf, and keep watching for a deal on a motherboard. In the meantime, get used to the nuance of dual cpu machines with a slot 1 setup. If that scratches the itch for watching Photoshop crash, then you saved a large amount of cash, time, and effort. If you want to go deeper down the rabbit hole... it will be there for you, but it is dark, and full of terrors.
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
