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Upgrade Stories Archive
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This page contains PB 600 upgrade stories from 1999
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05/14/99 18:35:18
Name: EH |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: pb600 |
Model Name: axcel833cd |
When Purchaced: summer 1995 |
Original RAM: 8mb |
Original CPU Speed: 100mhz |
Original Video memory: 1mb |
Comments:
The PB600 is in the garbage! I have played around with this ancient
piece of crap long enough. Introducing..., my new system: -Image mini tower
case w/ 230 watt power supply -FIC 503+ VIA VP3 apollo 66-124 bus speed
MB -80mb of FPM -1mb of L2 cache -AMD K6-2 300 running at 66 bus speed
(soon to OC) -large heatsink and BB fan for cpu -SB AWE 64 -USR 56K v.90
-4mb Vid w/ 3d enhancements -Win 95 Rev. B -CDrom -Floppy -new HD soon
(looking at a OEM 10gb refurbished for $128, any comments?) All I can say
is, it has been a trip PB. Take care everyone, EH
05/05/99 01:10:02
Name: Amanda |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: pb600 |
Model Name: pb4240 |
When Purchaced: 06/96 |
Original CPU Speed: 75mhz |
Comments:
O.k,before I found this website,I thought that packard bells can't
be upgraded...boy was I wrong!!!!First was RAM,I upgraded to 16,and then
decided to upgrade to 32.Then I tossed out the 75mhz CPU to put in the
Evergreen MMX pro 200mmx chip in(runs great) Bought a 4.3 GIG Quantam Fireball
hard drive,and got rid of the old 600mb hard drive.(BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT!!Very
easy upgrade believe it or not,I decided to completely go from scratch
and reinstall everything onto my new hard and just ditch the old one,as
t was messing up all of the time)Threw out the old 4x CD-ROM for a 32x
panasonic,got a new sound card(as starcraft didn't like the Aztec)and got
a Sound Blaster 64 AWE,and put in a 56k V.90 modem.My system kicks butt
now!!!Whoever said that packard Bells an't be upgraded were DEAD wrong!!!!!
04/01/99 07:11:38
Name: Lester Anderson |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB600 |
Model Name: Legend 3550 |
When Purchaced: 1996 |
Original RAM: 16 |
Original CPU Speed: 100 |
Comments:
The first thing I did was upgrade to 48 RAM. That had some nice results
but after experiencing world wide wait, upgraded to 56k USR modem. That
was a pain for a while had two modems and only using one. The next thing
I did was upgrade to 200 Mhz MMx proce sor. I really noticed difference
after. Next to upgrade will be my hard drive.... orig. 1 gigabyte. Can
you believe that was the norm in 96. Also will upgrade to 64 RAM. Installing
RAM was easy, CPU was harder had to experiment with the jumpers to get
to lock at 200.
03/28/99 18:46:24
Name: Del Earnheart |
My URL: Visit
Me |
My Email: Email
Me |
Motherboard #: PB 600 |
Model Name: 405CDT |
When Purchaced: 1995/6? |
Original RAM: 8Mb Onboard |
Original CPU Speed: 75MHz |
Original Video memory: 1Mb |
Comments:
We had sold our old AST 486DX33 with all software, furniture, and everything
and decided to completely get out of the computer business. Too expensive
to try and keep up. Well, all that's still true, but we needed a computer
anyway. This PB system seem d a good way to get going, since it came with
a lot of software. Knew it would need upgrading soon, planned to just migrate
everything usable to a new case/MB. At time of purchase, added the extra
1Mb of video mem and got the PB 17" monitor to use the c ol looking speakers.
Recently added 16Mb SIMM. Well, we did get the new barebones system, but
still keep the PB for networking with the kid's rooms and sharing the modem
for internet surfing and e-mail and ICQ by using WinGate as a proxy server.
Works reat, one internet account, everybody can surf at the same time.
Even use their own e-mail boxes. Anyway, latest upgrades are SMC EZCard
10/100 1211TX (which conflicted with the original sound/modem card; switch
the jumper from "BIOS settings" to "Softw re Set" to clear this), 16MB
EDO SIMM, another different SIMM which didn't work (still troubleshooting-maybe
just not compatible with existing one), Win98, about to install 3DBlaster
4Mb, and waiting for delivery of PowerLeap K6-2/400.
03/25/99 05:49:56
Name: Jay Breen |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB600 |
Model Name: Platinum I, A950-TWR |
When Purchaced: 2.19.96 |
Original RAM: 16 FPM |
Original CPU Speed: Pentium 133 |
Original Video memory: 1 meg |
Comments:
My Platinum I, serial N06501261, bought 2/19/96, has a PB600 motherboard,
Phoenix BIOS v. 4.04, Agoura release 1.20. The manual and Ray state a VLSI
82C590 chipset (591/522/593), but mine is 594/595/596, and the manual states
upto Pentium 100, yet I have P133. To the original 16 megs, I added 32
megs EDO but only half of the EDO would be counted and Win 95 would give
error messages. Added FPM instead of EDO is fine. Great site, Ray. Will
a WinChip2 work in this socket 5 board as a direct replacement?
03/22/99 20:53:00
Name: Jeff McDowell |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB600 |
Model Name: Platinum Plus 130 |
When Purchaced: 1996 |
Original RAM: 8 MB |
Original CPU Speed: 133 |
Original Video memory: 1 MB |
Comments:
Thanks to all the great advice on this site I decided to upgrade the
RAM to 80 MB and the CPU to a Pentium 233 MMX using the Poweleap adapter.
Everything went fine. Very easy to install and noticeable improvement in
speed. Didn't need to upgrade the BI S--it still reports a Pentium 133
at startup but the Powerleap utility confirms that it is actually running
at 233 MHz. Next upgraded the video to a Stealth II S220. Excellent results,
but I bought some 3D games and needed a 3dfx card. Installed a Mons er
3D II Voodoo2 card along with the Stealth and now I have a system that
will last another couple years. I don't have any L2 cache on the motherboard
(big mistake), so I may have to upgrade the motherboard in another year
to squeeze more life into the s stem. Powerleap is supposedly going to
manufacture LPX motherboards that fit into the original Packard Bell cases.
If other users report success, I may give it a try. Another problem with
the motherboard is that it doesn't support NMI (non-masked inter upts).
When I next installed a Soundblaster Live! Value card and a U.S. Robotics
56K modem to replace the original Packard Bell combo card, I found that
I could not use Soundblaster 16 DOS emulation. So I tossed the few DOS
games that I had and replaced the ones I liked with newer 3D versions that
were recently released. Although I had initial regrets that the Soundblaster
Live! DOS emulation did not work, now I'm free from DOS forever.
03/12/99 21:54:56
Name: Keith Johnson |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: pb600 |
Model Name: d135 |
Original RAM: 16 |
Original CPU Speed: 133 pentium |
Comments:
I upgraded my ram to 32meg by adding 2 8 meg chips No problem. I have
now removed the chips and added 4 16 meg chips. That should be a total
of 64 meg. My system only reads 40 meg regardless of which chips I put
where. Can anyone help me?
03/01/99 13:59:20
Name: Tom |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB 600 |
Model Name: Packmate 3500CD |
When Purchaced: 1995 Spring |
Original RAM: 16Mb |
Original CPU Speed: 75Mhz |
Original Video memory: 1Mb |
Comments:
Update to Powerleap MMX Pro overclocking experience......Setting an
AMD K6-2 350 to run higher than 366 will cause disk errors and blue screens.
Set it to 366 and it runs fine. Get a good video card to make your PB600
scream...i bought the ATI-All-in-wo der. Thanks to powerleap i can play
games that require fast processors with really great frame rate results.
The BIOS reports varied processor speeds depending on what you are clocked
at, none of them accurate....but the bottom line is that regardless o what
your BIOS reports your PC will still run at what you clock it to. Some
Utility programs recommend that a BIOS that supports a DMI interface be
used as Phoenix 4.04 Agoura release 1.20 does not support this. I havent
found anything yet that will u grade this BIOS, if anyone finds a BIOS
(update/fix) please post something about it here. The only alternative
I have seen is buying an expensive daughter-card, but if you have the means
to do that, then you might as well just get a new motherboard.
02/22/99 16:46:14
Name: don jacobs |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: 600 |
Model Name: legend 812cd |
When Purchaced: 1/12/96 |
Original RAM: 8mb |
Original CPU Speed: 100mhz |
Original Video memory: 1mb |
Comments:
upgrades...56k usr...40mb ram...16bit..sound..and Zerus mmxtreme 240mhz..PnP..went
from 99.5 to 265.5mhz!!!benchmark.looking for suggestion on video upgrade(have
15" AOC digital) ...also has 256k cache..PB said can't upgrade...any suggestions?...Thanks
mu h for this page..I hope the info on the Zerus helps out..I am very happy(no
smoke yet!!!!).....dj
02/18/99 12:08:49
Name: Tom |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: pb600 |
Model Name: Pack-Mate 3500CD |
When Purchaced: 1995 |
Original RAM: 16M |
Original CPU Speed: 75Mhz |
Original Video memory: 1M |
Comments:
Powerleap PL-Pro/MMX Plus! with AMD K6-2 350Mhz processor added. 72Meg
of ram. Since the powerleap book lists only the 300 and 366 settings for
the clock speeds, i set my 350 to run at 398 (slightly overclocked). It
seems to be running fine and cool. I eft the original fan running in the
case and have the additional CPU cooler fan that came with the Powerleap
adapter running also. Wintune results and other test programs show that
my system is running around 398 Mhz, with some test programs showing my
s stem running as fast as some 450 Mhz systems. Practically i have noticed
a HUGE performance increase and consider this one of the best purchases
i have EVER made for my computer.
02/11/99 04:40:45
Name: Shawn Fink |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB600 |
Model Name: Legend 4610 |
When Purchaced: Feb. 1996 |
Original CPU Speed: 120 |
Original Video memory: 1 MB |
Comments:
Well first of all I upgraded to 24 mb of ram back in 97. After that
in beginning of 98 I added a memorex 2x6 CD-RW(model CRW-1622) to replace
to 4x. Then I added a 3D Blaster Banshee PCI w/ 16 MB SDRAM. Kicks serious
butt. I put that in while waiting for my Powerleap AMD 400 to arrive. Earlier
today it arrived and I popped it in. My wintunes went 3 fold. I added a
memorex 40x CD-ROM(model CD-402E) on top of my CD-RW. Added a pair of Creative
speakers to give the quadrophonic sound feel. Got rid of my 28.8, My dad
didn't think i knew which jumpers to pull but I did. Still using the original
sound card :( I added a 56k in place of my 28.8. The powerleap kicks serious
butt. Then our original Cannon Printer went out(piece of sh*t). We bought
a HP Deskjet 697C. Along the way somewhere we found a perfectly good pin
printer on the curb and it worked, 12$ for a ribbon. So I got both of them
on a BELKIN data switch. I (god willing) will get a 4+ gig HD, because
my mom had little faith I would get the powerleap installed correctly.
So hopefully . . .
02/08/99 05:11:14
Name: Vernon |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB600 |
Model Name: legend 815cdt |
When Purchaced: 1995 |
Original RAM: 8 meg |
Original CPU Speed: 100mhz |
Original Video memory: 1 meg |
Comments:
I have upgrade my original system to the evergreen 200maxpro and a
Graphics Blaster rivatnt 16meg PCI card. The system runs fine. The software
from evergreen shows a 200mhz processor but shows a core speed of 150mhz.
can anyone tell ne why I get a 150m z core speed indication. I have recently
purchased the powerleap AMDK6-2 400mhz processor. Has anyone else tried
this processor and if so how significant are the improvements. vernon3@usit.net
02/02/99 17:28:22
Name: Ron B. |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: pb600 |
Model Name: multimedia c110 |
When Purchaced: 12/96 |
Original RAM: 16mb |
Original CPU Speed: 120mhz |
Original Video memory: 1mb |
Comments:
First upgraded with additional 32mb memory (48mb total). Added a USR
sportster faxmodem, new 16bit sound card (the pb soundcard/modem sucks)added
a cheapo scanner with scsi adapter. The final upgrade was the processor,
a AMD k6-2 300mhz used with the powerleap proII adapater for socket 5 mobos.
Also successfully overclocked this processor to 330mhz without any problems.
System is quite stable, no crashes yet! Contrary to what I've read, the
processor is VERY cool running.
02/02/99 16:26:43
Name: Norman Hill |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB600 |
Model Name: Legend 1824CDT |
When Purchaced: 1996 |
Original RAM: 16 MB |
Original CPU Speed: 100 |
Original Video memory: 1 MB |
Comments:
Trying to install a SMC EZ PCI net card on a Win98 system. Installation
is not a problem, setting up hardware goes smoothly. Upon reboot, PC locks
up and won't go into Windows. If I remove the net card, PC reboots fine???
Any suggestions??
01/26/99 03:51:51
Name: Gary |
My URL: Visit Me |
Motherboard #: PB 600 |
Model Name: Legend 4610 |
When Purchaced: 96 |
Original CPU Speed: 120mhz |
Comments:
Here we go..I buy this comptuter..abot 3 years ago..q20mzh. PB...and
I got hooked on on-line games..the 120mhz on my computer.couldn't keep
up.so I logged on to PowerLeap..and got the AMD 333mhz chip. It took 4
minutes to install..and bam!..it's cooking! !!...frame rates are 4x as
fast...I have 40mgs of RAm..upgrading and adding 64mgs more...this works..it's
so easy!!!...this upgrade works!..first nite on w/new chip..total of 5
hours..no overheating..no probs...:) Thank u for the advice!....
01/23/99 23:04:44
Name: Tom |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB 600 |
Model Name: Legend 1990 CDT |
When Purchaced: 10/95 |
Original RAM: 16 |
Original CPU Speed: 133 Mhz |
Original Video memory: 1 Mb |
Comments:
When I bought this computer I had also purchased a 2.1 GB hard drive.
I didn't really do anything to it until 1997 when I installed 32 more megs
of ram to bring it to a total of 48 megs. Ripped out both the 1.2 and 2.1
gb hard drives and bought maxtor dia ond +10.2 and 8.4 gb hard drives.
I tried to upgrade to a Diamond Viper V330 no luck I kept getting a motherboard
resource confilict error on boot. I pulled it out and tried a couple of
others that didn't work either. Finally the sales man had told me ab ut
this little known card called the Intergraph intense voodoo 3D I installed
it and it works like a charm ( I am very happy with this board.). I also
added a Pioneer 32X Cdrom, upgraded to windows 98 and the other day I installed
the Evergreen MxPro 200 hz and not a problem 1. I have to say that I am
very impressed with the new chip and it works wonders on the applications.I
have also added a Mustek 600 II Ep plus scanner, and gotten rid of the
sound card/modem combo and put in a Diamond Supraexpress 56. k and a sound
blaster AWE 64. I have to say now I can pull nice frame rates from Quake
2 ( about 45 to 60) with no problems at all. All of the hardware upgrades
went in with out a problem except for the video card which was solved with
ease.
01/23/99 23:04:44
Name: Tom |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB 600 |
Model Name: Legend 1990 CDT |
When Purchaced: 10/95 |
Original RAM: 16 |
Original CPU Speed: 133 Mhz |
Original Video memory: 1 Mb |
Comments:
When I bought this computer I had also purchased a 2.1 GB hard drive.
I didn't really do anything to it until 1997 when I installed 32 more megs
of ram to bring it to a total of 48 megs. Ripped out both the 1.2 and 2.1
gb hard drives and bought maxtor dia ond +10.2 and 8.4 gb hard drives.
I tried to upgrade to a Diamond Viper V330 no luck I kept getting a motherboard
resource confilict error on boot. I pulled it out and tried a couple of
others that didn't work either. Finally the sales man had told me ab ut
this little known card called the Intergraph intense voodoo 3D I installed
it and it works like a charm ( I am very happy with this board.). I also
added a Pioneer 32X Cdrom, upgraded to windows 98 and the other day I installed
the Evergreen MxPro 200 hz and not a problem 1. I have to say that I am
very impressed with the new chip and it works wonders on the applications.I
have also added a Mustek 600 II Ep plus scanner, and gotten rid of the
sound card/modem combo and put in a Diamond Supraexpress 56. k and a sound
blaster AWE 64. I have to say now I can pull nice frame rates from Quake
2 ( about 45 to 60) with no problems at all. All of the hardware upgrades
went in with out a problem except for the video card which was solved with
ease.
01/23/99 23:04:40
Name: Tom |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB 600 |
Model Name: Legend 1990 CDT |
When Purchaced: 10/95 |
Original RAM: 16 |
Original CPU Speed: 133 Mhz |
Original Video memory: 1 Mb |
Comments:
When I bought this computer I had also purchased a 2.1 GB hard drive.
I didn't really do anything to it until 1997 when I installed 32 more megs
of ram to bring it to a total of 48 megs. Ripped out both the 1.2 and 2.1
gb hard drives and bought maxtor dia ond +10.2 and 8.4 gb hard drives.
I tried to upgrade to a Diamond Viper V330 no luck I kept getting a motherboard
resource confilict error on boot. I pulled it out and tried a couple of
others that didn't work either. Finally the sales man had told me ab ut
this little known card called the Intergraph intense voodoo 3D I installed
it and it works like a charm ( I am very happy with this board.). I also
added a Pioneer 32X Cdrom, upgraded to windows 98 and the other day I installed
the Evergreen MxPro 200 hz and not a problem 1. I have to say that I am
very impressed with the new chip and it works wonders on the applications.I
have also added a Mustek 600 II Ep plus scanner, and gotten rid of the
sound card/modem combo and put in a Diamond Supraexpress 56. k and a sound
blaster AWE 64. I have to say now I can pull nice frame rates from Quake
2 ( about 45 to 60) with no problems at all. All of the hardware upgrades
went in with out a problem except for the video card which was solved with
ease.
01/08/99 23:54:32
Name: John |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: pb600 |
Model Name: Legend 422 CDT |
When Purchaced: 10/95 |
Original RAM: 16 MB |
Original CPU Speed: P75 |
Original Video memory: 1 MB |
Comments:
Over the years I have upgraded to 88 MB RAM, 2 MB video memory, 56k
ModemSurfer internal modem, added 2 additional hard drives, a tape drive,
a B&W quickcam, and installed Windows NT 4.0 and FreeBSD 2.2.8. My
most recent upgrade is a PowerLeap "PL-Pro/MMX Plus" with an AMD K6-2 333
MHz CPU. The installation went quickly and easily, and the increase in
speed is impressive (particularly when compiling software or running applications
that do a lot of floating point calculations). See my web page for the
ben hmark results. I believe an upgraded BIOS is required, but I had already
done that, so it was mostly just pop it in and run. Both Windows NT and
FreeBSD run fine with the upgrade, but I can no longer boot Windows 95
(get a divide by zero error during boo ). Not a problem for me (I don't
use W95 any more anyway).
01/07/99 03:36:36
Name: Kyle |
My URL: Visit Me |
My Email: Email Me |
Motherboard #: PB600 |
Model Name: Legend 2440 |
When Purchaced: 3/96 |
Original RAM: 16 |
Original CPU Speed: 75 |
Original Video memory: 1 meg |
Comments:
I installed 32 meg of RAM for a total of 48, I also installed a Best
Data 56k v.90 modem. I pulled out the 4X cd-rom and installed a Retal Plus+
24X. The original sound card and modem combo came out and in went a Digital
Research PCI 128 Voice 3D/Wave sou d card. I pulled out the 75Mhz Pentium
after overclocking to 120 Mhz and put in a Evergreen Pro 180Mhz overclocked
to 200Mhz. All these items went in with no problems. I tried installing
a Graphic Blasrer Exxtreme 4 meg video card but cannot make it run s oothly
on text. I tried a couple different drivers but it just does'nt cut it,
any help in this area would be greatly appreciated. The performance increase
was great and I bought low-end upgrades. My monitor is a NEC XV14 thats
always been reliable.
Click here to read older PB 600 Stories from
1998 and 1997
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