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Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

T20-T23 Series and T30. NOT for T25-Retro.
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T3f4l
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Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#1 Post by T3f4l » Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:56 am

Hi All

It seem's ThinkPads are kinda addictive, i'ev got my X220 the way I want it and am now looking for a new "Project". In short I would like to find a ThinkPad for DOS Gaming, ideally something that can run the last of the DOS games from the late 90's.
Anyone got any recommendations as to a model that is a good fit? With working SB compatable sound card etc?

Thanks in advance!
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#2 Post by JPOESQ » Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:45 am

I use the 600 for DOS and WIN95 programs.
John P. O'Banion, JD, PE, BSEE
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X220 (McDonnell bios), X230 (1vyrain bios), T530 (1vyrain bios), X1 Carbon 5th Signature Edition

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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#3 Post by theterminator93 » Mon Jan 30, 2017 9:16 am

I was just about to say the same - one of the 600 family should do nicely. I've got a 365XD that emulates the SB card fairly well, though it is a bit limited in terms of CPU power with the Pentium 120. I've got a 380D I'm going to do something similar with to see how much better it fares with the faster CPU.
T480 with T25 keyboard | T25 | W520 i7-2860QM·Quadro 2000m·IPS FHD | T601F T9900·NVS 140m·LED AFFS UXGA
T420 IPS FHD | X220 IPS FHD | T61p·T61·43·42p|X13 Yoga G3·220T·301·41T·24·23·22|G41|A31p·22m|i1200|TransNote
600|770Z|770|760XD|760EL|701C|755C

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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#4 Post by Kasm279 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 12:57 pm

The 600E in particular is pretty good. It has a SB16-compatible sound chip, in addition to a second PCI-based one with a pretty decent wavetable synth. Obviously, you'll have to be launching stuff from Windows to use the wavetable synth.
Main: Latitude E6430
Working ThinkPads: IBM 5155, 755C, 755CX, 760ED, 380Z, 600E (x3), i1420, 570E, X20, T23, T30 x3, T43, Z61t, T60p
WIP: 701c (Broken OS), 600 (LCD), PS/2 L40SX (HDD), 570 (No lid), X31 (HDD, LCD), R51 (HDD), Z60t (HDD), X60 (HDD), T400 (LCD), T43p (?)
Dead: i1420 (Mobo, Keyboard)

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#5 Post by kfzhu1229 » Sat Feb 04, 2017 8:26 pm

If you want a cheap one, 390X can also be considered if you prefer functionality over portability
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

T3f4l
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#6 Post by T3f4l » Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:46 pm

Bit of an update, I've got myself a T22 and performed a clean install of Windows 98se.
It is working perfectly! Its a P3 900mhz with 384mb ram at the moment, but I have ordered a 1ghz cpu and another 256mb of ram. It didn't have any optical drive when it arrived so I have sourced and fitted a DVD RW Combo but I plan on changing that. Ill put a thread up in the T series forum once the rebuild starts
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#7 Post by kfzhu1229 » Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:47 pm

WHERE did you get the 1Ghz CPU? It is nowhere to be found on eBay??
Also I wanted to confirm what speed & chip configuration of 256mb RAM did you get. Not EVERY stick work with that machine!
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

thinkpadcollection
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#8 Post by thinkpadcollection » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:17 pm

Finding PIII mobile 100fsb 1GHz is very dear and hard to find, better way is search for them that is in notebook and swap CPUs.

PS: any micron and samsung 256MB sticks between 100 to 133 mhz will work, matched set is best. I had them in A21m and proven work. I could send you the micron 256mb sticks if you wish. I have no longer need them.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#9 Post by kfzhu1229 » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:43 pm

thinkpadcollection wrote:Finding PIII mobile 100fsb 1GHz is very dear and hard to find, better way is search for them that is in notebook and swap CPUs.
I know right? I think for that model it is just like 1.26 and 1.33ghz variants of Tualatin M core, it was not sold separately. I was only worried that he got the Tualatin one instead which 100% will NOT work because the socket is COMPLETELY different!
thinkpadcollection wrote:PS: any micron and samsung 256MB sticks between 100 to 133 mhz will work, matched set is best. I had them in A21m and proven work. I could send you the micron 256mb sticks if you wish. I have no longer need them.
100mhz, yes
133mhz, depends on the chip configuration. ONLY 16 chip low-density 133mhz will work! Otherwise the machine either does NOT boot or boot into garbage!
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

T3f4l
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Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#10 Post by T3f4l » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:24 am

The Processor came from eBay from a seller who is parting out a Thinkpad, Paid £13 for it. It is an SL53S. Not fitted it yet so hopefully its the correct one (100mhz Bus with 256k Cache)

The ram is out of a Dell Inspiron 7500, it has the Kingston OEM Number KTD-INSP7500/256. Research shows this is actually Kingston KTC311/256LP which is in turn KTM-TP390X/256, so it SHOULD work. Its PC100 16 Chips 256mb Total.

I'll report back!
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#11 Post by kfzhu1229 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:23 am

Look at the pins of the CPU then. If the socket is rectangular with no empty square in the middle, you get the right one. If it is a square with another small empty square inside, it is Tualatin and you are screwed
SL53S seems like the correct one, but you get to see if the seller messed it up or not because it is too good to be true...
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

RealBlackStuff
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#12 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:33 am

You can pick up an Intel SL53S for less than $10 on eBay...

T3f4l
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Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#13 Post by T3f4l » Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:05 am

X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#14 Post by kfzhu1229 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 2:48 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:You can pick up an Intel SL53S for less than $10 on eBay...
That is gone... I think it is just one of these rare sales you find. Last time I grabbed A30p and A31p motherboards from eBay for cheap!
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

T3f4l
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Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:06 am
Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#15 Post by T3f4l » Mon Feb 06, 2017 2:58 pm

Processor fitted and working well
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#16 Post by kfzhu1229 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:02 pm

Does it output a lot of heat? AFAIK these processors generate more heat than Pentium 4 M from a A31/T30
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

T3f4l
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Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:06 am
Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#17 Post by T3f4l » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:30 pm

I replaced the paste with arctic silver and it seems to be running cooler than before. So it's all good, tomorrow's upgrade will be a 320gb hd in the ultra bay and the upgrade to 512mb ram. Then it's time to start hunting for good condition outer panels to make it look visually good
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#18 Post by kfzhu1229 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:12 pm

Good condition outer panels are extremely hard to find! Especially non-sticky lid!
Also 320gb HDD may not work properly in these older models! At least that's true to my A30p
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

T3f4l
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Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:06 am
Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#19 Post by T3f4l » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:43 pm

I've had it booting on it, had to partition it down to get windows to install, going to format it as fat32 using a Mac so it hasn't got the limit windows has.
Wish there was a better network card, this one is so slow!
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#20 Post by kfzhu1229 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:18 pm

While a Wireless connection card physically works (Trust me, I have tried 2200BG on T22), you are looking at the cost of removing Ethernet and Modem functionality!
Also you will also have to figure out a way to route the antennae
I have also tried Windows 98, Windows 2000, 2003 and 7 on that same T22. I prefer Windows 2000 out of these 4...
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#21 Post by RealBlackStuff » Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:51 am

If you don't need the USB-port for something else, there are cheap wifi-N USB-dongles.
Drivers for it might be a problem.
Failing that, read this: http://www.bttr-software.de/forum/mix_e ... p?id=13354

T3f4l
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Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#22 Post by T3f4l » Tue Feb 07, 2017 6:12 am

I have a couple of the USB dongles but as you said, drivers are an issue. Saying that I don't really care about wifi as it spends its time on a desk or in a bag so I can plug it in.
I am getting really slow download speeds when wired so wondered if there was a better internal ethernet card? It currently has a Intel 10/100, any suggestions?

Thanks
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#23 Post by RealBlackStuff » Tue Feb 07, 2017 8:58 am

10/100 should be more than fast enough.
Your T22 probably doesn't act nice with your router.
(It likes WPS/doesn't like WPA2 comes to mind)
Check here for W98se options: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/175486- ... indows-9x/

For a better looking lid, see my post here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=121754

PS: since we are talking T22 here, I moved the thread to the T2x Forum.

kfzhu1229
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#24 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Feb 07, 2017 10:37 am

Also how does 1ghz Coppermine compare against 1.2ghz Tualatin? I tried running 900mhz Coppermine vs 1.2ghz Tualatin in Windows 7 and that Tualatin is just exactly two times faster while producing 1/2 the amount of heat! In the end Tualatin is usable in Windows 7 while that 900mhz Coppeermine is NOT usable in Windows 7.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

thinkpadcollection
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Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#25 Post by thinkpadcollection » Tue Feb 07, 2017 3:33 pm

Both CPUs are same in design (MMX and SSE), just tualatin has 512K and 200MHz extra.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

T3f4l
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Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:06 am
Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Thinkpad for DOS Gaming?

#26 Post by T3f4l » Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:18 pm

Made a bit of progress with the networking / wifi, have one of these running on Windows 98, it needed a bit of fiddling with the drivers to run it as the ones that come with the card won't work on Windows 98 BUT I have a solution.
Only draw back is it doesn't support WPA2 but does support WPA etc.

The card in question:
http://www.noob4life.com/T20Build/wirelesscard.jpg

(Hope the photo is an OK size this time)
Nope, still too big (50KB is the limit). Next time, just post a link (like the above) to your picture.

Due to a slight error on my part I also have another 4 brand new & sealed if anyone is interested!
X220, 2.8 i7, 16gb 1866mhz, 512gb Samsung msata boot and 480gb Sandisk ssd storage
T22, 1ghz PIII, 512mb PC100 Ram, 128gb ssd boot and 320gb Weston Digital Storage
T21, ???ghz PIII, ???mb PC100 Ram, Its a parts donor that may see life again!

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