Thrifted an IBM netvista
Posted by ryanrudolf@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 19 comments
Cleaned up the old thrifted IBM netvista, modified the IDE and floppy cables and it's all good! And now the new old stock IBM PS/2 keyboard I thrifted several years ago is a good match for this IBM netvista.
This will go back to my to-do pile. Hopefully over the years / months I can find a low profile AGP card, IBM PS/2 mouse and some extra ram sticks. I can easily go to ebay to get them right away but there is no fun in that.
rarcusmeich@reddit
I have the original AGP card that goes with this machine, kickin around somewhere
ryanrudolf@reddit (OP)
Do you still remember what model / brand the AGP card? This one doesn't have AGP card and the brackets at the back are all intact. I'm looking at ebay and riva tnt2 looks like a good fit for this.
GGigabiteM@reddit
The RIVA TNT2 was ancient history when this machine came out. This is a very late AGP system before the transition to PCIe. While a universally keyed TNT2 card would probably work in this system, it would be bottlenecked to hell.
This machine would have likely had a Geforce 4 MX 440/4000 or a Geforce FX 5200/5500.
rarcusmeich@reddit
mine had nvidia vanta, cards no better than a riva tnt2, if anything its more powerful, youre just copy and pasting bullshit from google, rofl
ryanrudolf@reddit (OP)
I guess the riva tnt2 will still be better compared to the integrated intel video adapter?
GGigabiteM@reddit
No, at best, they will be similar in performance. At worst, the TNT2 will be worse if you accidentally buy a TNT2 M64 instead of a full TNT2 Pro/Ultra, which are getting hard to find.
Just buy a Geforce 4 MX 440 and call it a day. It will curb stomp a TNT2 and the IEG integrated into the motherboard.
Here's a low profile card I found.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/327014723388
And another low profile card, but it has a full height bracket you'll have to modify.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/257442007303
RepresentativeCut486@reddit
Yes it's much better
RepresentativeCut486@reddit
On board is horrible in this. It even runs the desktop of win XP poorly. This came out in the 2000 so TNT2 would still be an appropriate budget card for it.
GGigabiteM@reddit
No, this system was released in the latter half of 2002, or early 2003.
The Pentium 4 2.4 was from April 2002. The i845G chipset is from May 2002. IBM's reference manual shows 2002.
The i845G and the TNT2 have similar performance, but the i845G supports DirectX 7 and OpenGL 1.3, while the TNT2 only supports DirectX 6 and OpenGL 1.2. While the i845G uses system memory, it is still faster, being DDR at 266/333 MHz vs. the 150 MHz of the TNT2, or 143 MHz of the TNT2 M64.
Finding a genuine TNT2 card these days is difficult, because of the proliferation of the TNT2 M64, the cut down version of the card. Nvidia sold those things by the millions to OEMs and low budget PC builders, and didn't make too much of an effort to differentiate them from the better TNT2 Pro/Ultra variants that were much faster.
A Geforce 4 MX 440 is more era appropriate, and would have been a card available with the system. It also smokes the TNT2, there's no competition.
Here's a low profile version of the Geforce 4 MX 440. It doesn't have the low profile bracket, but that can be modified pretty easily, or a custom one 3D printed.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/257442007303
rarcusmeich@reddit
yeah, if I'm not mistaken it was a lower quality one, the riva tnt2 is likely more powerful, it was an nvidia vanta-16 I believe.
MWink64@reddit
That's probably my least favorite line of WD hard drives. The fact that their motors tended to scream like a banshee only added insult to injury, as Seagate had introduced the wonderfully silent FDB motors a couple years earlier (in the Barracuda IV).
ryanrudolf@reddit (OP)
I hear ya! First time i plugged in the HDD and its screeching! Forgot how it sounded like it's been ages
RepresentativeCut486@reddit
I put TNT2 in mine. First machine I used in my life.
Inspiron606002@reddit
Get that thing a color matched CD drive lol
ryanrudolf@reddit (OP)
I migjt just spray paint the bezel to match lol
ligma-code@reddit
I had a K6-2 NetVista and I didn’t realise IBM kept the model name around for so long. That is sweet.
tyttuutface@reddit
Neat! I'd love to have one of these. They're such cool-looking systems.
ryanrudolf@reddit (OP)
Yes they're cool machines. Was at the right place at the right time. This machine was next to the DVD players lol. The employee may have thought its a huge DVD player due to the orientation.
ryanrudolf@reddit (OP)
Forgot to mention the caps are all good. The 40GB HDD works and looks like its a fresh factory reset / reimage of Windows XP before it was sent to the thriftstore!