Anyone own a pentium PRO system back in the day?

[Arkaign]

I had a 180 at work. They weren't the "extreme" edition of the day since there was not as much consumerism in the CPU market back then. They were a poorly positioned product that Intel never quite knew what to do with. Eventually, intel got it right and made the Pentium Pro architecture into the Pentium II.

Well, due to the 32-bit nature of it, NT 4 Server setups ran like lightning on PPros

 

[gbeirn]

I still own a 6x200MHz 1MB rackmount setup with 1GB of SIMMs. Not sure why I'm still keeping it around or why I even bought it in the first place!

 

[justinm]

I have a PPro 200 in a tray that I have had for almost 13 years. It is the 512Kb version though

 

[NickelPlate]

Ha! My first PC was a Gateway 2000 Pentium 75Mhz running Windows 3.1 and I think 8MB (that's MEGA not gigabytes) of ram. That was even before the exciting new MMX technology CPUs came along .

I still remember all the hoopla over Windows 95 when it was coming out. I think I paid a little over $2000 for that PC. How things have changed.

 

[tweakboy]

Yes, P2B motherboard and 450Mhz and 256mb ram lol

 

[Tsavo]

Ha! My first PC was a Gateway 2000 Pentium 75Mhz running Windows 3.1 and I think 8MB (that's MEGA not gigabytes) of ram. That was even before the exciting new MMX technology CPUs came along .

I still remember all the hoopla over Windows 95 when it was coming out. I think I paid a little over $2000 for that PC. How things have changed.

I'll sell you a Gateway 2000 with at Pentium 75 with Windows 3.1 and 8 mb of RAM for $2000.

See? Nothing has changed!

 

[Rifter]

lol, my first computer was a Commodore 64........

 

[spunkygermanicus]

Vaguely.

As in, Google Vaguely.

I also remember shopping for computer parts with Computer Shopper before there was an internets.

Yes, and Computer Shopper was as big a a small city phone book.

 

[Gillbot]

Yes, and Computer Shopper was as big a a small city phone book.

I miss the old Computer Shopper!

 

[mizzou]

I remember upgrading from a IBM 486 DX2 to a drop in pentium pro upgrade back in the day


boy what a rush it was then getting your hands on a new piece of equipment. Usually there was only a handful of options to upgrade, not the 1000000000 options you see today, much simpler and exciting times.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I remember upgrading from a IBM 486 DX2 to a drop in pentium pro upgrade back in the day


boy what a rush it was then getting your hands on a new piece of equipment. Usually there was only a handful of options to upgrade, not the 1000000000 options you see today, much simpler and exciting times.

Since the 486DX2 had an incompatible socket compared to the PPro, then it couldn't have been a drop-in upgrade. Perhaps you are talking about the regular Pentium Overdrive chips for the 486 socket?

 

[Rubycon]

Since the 486DX2 had an incompatible socket compared to the PPro, then it couldn't have been a drop-in upgrade. Perhaps you are talking about the regular Pentium Overdrive chips for the 486 socket?

Those were 83MHz socket 3 drop ins. Nice FLOPS increase over the (non) superscalar 486 but much slower than even the Pentium 66. Give the total system prices of the day I suppose installing these was feasible especially if you had an application that REQUIRED a Pentium.

Powerleaps were also very cool that allowed you to run newer chips in unsupported boards. (incompatible VRM, for example)

 

[RGN]

I had a PPro 180 with 64MB of EDO back in the day, actually still sorta have it. Great workstation... I really thought the huge socket 8 was cool. I OD'c the 180 to 200, but later put the 333Mhz Overdrive in. That had, I think, 512K full speed on-die cache. The system was faster than the PII's of the time. I had an nVidia Riva128zx and the pair of voodoo2 in SLI. Shortly after the Overdrive went in, I put a Voodoo 5, 5000 PCI in it. Its currently still in that configuration though I haven't powered it on in years.

I wonder how Windows 7 would do on it.

 

[Maximilian]

I had a PPro 180 with 64MB of EDO back in the day, actually still sorta have it. Great workstation... I really thought the huge socket 8 was cool. I OD'c the 180 to 200, but later put the 333Mhz Overdrive in. That had, I think, 512K full speed on-die cache. The system was faster than the PII's of the time. I had an nVidia Riva128zx and the pair of voodoo2 in SLI. Shortly after the Overdrive went in, I put a Voodoo 5, 5000 PCI in it. Its currently still in that configuration though I haven't powered it on in years.

I wonder how Windows 7 would do on it.

Should give it a try and report back

 

[MagickMan]

I miss the old Computer Shopper!

Hell yes! I'd sit and read it for hours, and bookmark all the stuff I'd shop for at the next Hamfest. Good times.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Those were 83MHz socket 3 drop ins. Nice FLOPS increase over the (non) superscalar 486 but much slower than even the Pentium 66. Give the total system prices of the day I suppose installing these was feasible especially if you had an application that REQUIRED a Pentium.

Powerleaps were also very cool that allowed you to run newer chips in unsupported boards. (incompatible VRM, for example)

Yea, I had the not-as-sepctacular AMD drop in. From a 486 DX2 to a 133MHz K5 based part. I remember reading the chart that showed how fast the drop in would run at depending on what you 486 you had. I guess jump-adjustable motherboards weren't yet widespread much less bios adjustable.

It's amazing how the simplist of 3D blew me away back then.. these days three 30" monitors running Eyefinity and DX11 don't impress me as much as Doom 2 over the LAN with some friends did back then.

 

[aigomorla]

boy what a rush it was then getting your hands on a new piece of equipment. Usually there was only a handful of options to upgrade, not the 1000000000 options you see today, much simpler and exciting times.

also even the bottom floor chip costed almost as much as a mid tier chip now a days.

 

[bassoprofundo]

Ah, the memories... The first PC I owned (i.e.-paid for) was a Pentium Pro 200 (which I OCd to 233 shortly after getting it.) I was working for IBM as a college intern doing onsite PC support for McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing), and they sent me to O.C. in Cali and gave me carte blanche to work as much OT as I wanted. I put in 170 hrs. in 2 weeks and made enough to plunk down cash for it. $3600 from Gateway 2000 for a Pentium Pro 200, 32mb EDO RAM, Adaptec 2940UW SCSI card, 2gb UW SCSI HD, Matrox Millenium 4mb video, 33.6 modem, Soundblaster 16 ASP, 3com 3c509 NIC, 17" Trinitron Monitor, and Altec Lansing ACS400 speakers with a sub. Later on, I upgraded the video to a Millenium II 8mb and an Orchid Righteous 3d (3dfx), upgraded the sound to an AWE64 Gold, upgraded the RAM to 128mb, and added a 2nd 2gb SCSI drive and a 6gb IDE. It served me well through college. The board, CPU, and RAM are still working and are still in the attic. I can't bear to toss it...