Windows 98SE - Pentium 3 Question

[Monroe]

jaclaz ... very informative and funny post ! ... an old program seeing the "light of day" again in 2011. Thanks for the info ... I might add, I got my first computer in '98 (Win 95) and have learned a great deal about computers since then but I still consider myself a newbie in many ways. I still have limited knowledge about DOS for one thing and the inner workings of an OS for another ... around two years back I had questions about USB drivers in DOS, you and dencorso went into great depth to try and make things clear about all that. This forum has been much help to me since I discovered it.

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Edited August 21, 2011 by duffy98

[I41Mar]

@Duffy98

About my PIII processor.

I monitored my PIII PC (700 MHZ, no cooling software, nor overclock!) processor temperature in winter time and it is about 24°C when is in idle state and reaches 36°C at full load (during dos gaming), while in the summer time is 37°C when is in idle state and reaches 48°C at full load.

Based on your experience I would like to know whether the use of the software 'rain 2' lowers the PIII processor temperature also when the PC workload is moderate or high, or is effective only when the PC is in idle state?

Thank you in advance.

I41Mar

[Monroe]

I41Mar ... Rain 2 seems to only work when the processor is in an idle state, or maybe "near idle". On my Dell Latitude where I can actually read the CPU temperature ... if the computer is really doing some intensive work, the temperature will usually be high and stay there until I'm finished ... then usually a fast drop down to cooler numbers takes place. If the processor is at idle with Rain working, the temperature will of course be low but if I turn Rain off at "idle" or when doing nothing, the temperature will start climbing almost immediately and when turning Rain back on, the temperature reading starts to drop.

I still have found no program to read my NEC Pentium 3 temperature but I can tell the same thing is happening with Rain running and not running because of the cooling fan going on and off. I really don't think Rain and probably most all cooling software are much use when the processor is working under a load. I could be wrong in that statement, just what I have read and my observations. My Dell temperature readings can get pretty high at times and will just stay there (more or less) until I'm finished doing something intensive and then the drop back down to better numbers starts to occur almost immediately.

In conclusion, Rain (or some other program) seems to be of some use in CPU temperature control even if it is limited. Rain is so small and uses very little resources when running ... it seems like a good program to be using with Windows 98. Hope this helps a little.

Now I have a few questions for you concerning your Pentium 3 processor .... just wondering what name brand your computer is and what temperature program you are using to get your readings. As I said earlier, I am still searching for a temperature program for my NEC notebook. I have several programs that will read the hard drive temperature but not the CPU temperature. I am assuming that you are running Windows 98SE. I have found some temperature programs that only work with Windows 2000 and XP so it's possible one of those will work but I'm not about to drop Windows 98SE yet (like never!), although I do like Windows 2000 Pro after fooling around with it on my Dell ... have 2 hard drive caddies so it's

easy to switch from 98SE (FAT) to 2000 Pro (NTFS) if I need a program to run that won't work on Win 98SE. ... thanks

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Edited August 30, 2011 by duffy98

[Monroe]

I have a question for jaclaz, fhub, triger49 and anyone else ... not exactly related to my Pentium 3 question but all three of you made mention of using a filecompare utility in earlier posts. I will admit ... I have never used one of these programs but I can see where a filecompare program would be good to have on hand ... triger, you said you were using "ancient utility I had for Windows 95" ... I have searched around and found 2 programs that work with Windows 98, 2000 and XP .... WinMerge and ExamDiff ... just would like to know what program(s) you guys are using? ... thanks

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Edited August 30, 2011 by duffy98

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

I have a question for jaclaz, fhub, triger49 and anyone else ... not exactly related to my Pentium 3 question but all three of you made mention of using a filecompare utility in earlier posts. I will admit ... I have never used one of these programs but I can see where a filecompare program would be good to have on hand ... triger, you said you were using "ancient utility I had for Windows 95" ... I have searched around and found 2 programs that work with Windows 98, 2000 and XP .... WinMerge and ExamDiff ... just would like to know what program(s) you guys are using? ... thanks

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Well, I have three icons in Quicklaunch for drag-dropping files or folders for comparisons, each with their options preset slightly different: for certain tasks.

WinDiff ... ExamDiff v3 ... ExamDiff v2

Though I rarely need anything but the first two (WinDiff, ExamDiff3) for most comparisons.

WinDiff is free from Microsoft and is simple but very effective. It does pretty much everything (text, binary, directories). But for binary you will not get the nice hex view of different bytes.

ExamDiff is not free but worth every penny and has all the bells and whistles. They do seem to have a free version on their page but I cannot recommend it if it does not do binary or directory comparisons. Buy it if you want everything.

WinDiff stores its settings in the registry, the others use a local file. This means that using multiple versions of WinDiff is problematic because they each read/write the same registry key. ExamDiff uses a local .TXT file (like an INI) for its huge selection of options so different versions can coexist.

WinMerge is good and is free 3rd party Open Source software. I have too little experience with it to say much more. I have it but haven't really needed it.

Visual Merge (link), Grigsoft Compare It! (link), and Scooter Beyond Compare (link) are three more non-free trial/purchase possibilities to consider, but I am not fully up to speed on them currently because the ones I have work and have not yet forced me to look elsewhere for other features.

[I41Mar]

@Duffy98

My PC specs:

Intel Pentium IIIE Coppermine 700MHz, Socket 370, RAM 512Mb, MotherBoard PCChips M754LMR+, Chipset ULi/ALi M1631 ALADDiN TNT2, VideoCard NVIDIA Aladdin TNT2.

My software monitoring is 'Genesys Logic System Health Monitor' program for Win95/98/NT found on PC setup CD, but you can try to use HWInfo32 or Everest softwares.

I41Mar

[jaclaz]

I have a question for jaclaz, fhub, triger49 and anyone else ... not exactly related to my Pentium 3 question but all three of you made mention of using a filecompare utility in earlier posts. I will admit ... I have never used one of these programs but I can see where a filecompare program would be good to have on hand ... triger, you said you were using "ancient utility I had for Windows 95" ... I have searched around and found 2 programs that work with Windows 98, 2000 and XP .... WinMerge and ExamDiff ... just would like to know what program(s) you guys are using? ... thanks

You need a hex editor to do that (or a hex file comparing utility).

I normally use Tiny Hexer.

Simplest of binary (and text) file compare program is obviously FC (/B):

http://ss64.com/nt/fc.html

jaclaz

[Monroe]

Well I was having trouble getting signed in to reply. Tons of good feedback from everyone. ... CharlotteTheHarlot, good to hear from you again, you helped me some time back with some registry questions. I did not know that ExamDiff came in a Pro version, I found v1.9 on the web but I am also going to check out all the others you mentioned.

jaclaz ... I downloaded Tiny Hexer v1.8.1.6 and FC.exe will take a little time to understand ... will work with these programs over the next few days.

I41Mar ... I am searching around for Genesys Logic System Health Monitor ... other's have also indicated it can be found on a CD, maybe someone put the program online with a link somewhere.

I came across an old 2001 article by Fred Langa dealing with CPU heat. Read his articles for many years.

Fred Langa

Mar 12, 2001

None Like It Hot

http://www.informationweek.com/news/12802724

He mentions a program that he liked over MBM (Motherboard Monitor) called MBProbe ... I think I remember it but had forgotten about it, worth a try, might be surprised if it actually works.

... From the article:

"While MBM is good, I've come to prefer the look and feel of a slightly different freeware tool called MBProbe. According to the site, it "monitors voltages, temperatures and fan speeds using hardware monitoring chip(s) available on many modern motherboards."

thanks

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[I41Mar]

@Duffy98

You can find a updated version MBProbe at www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/hardware_utils_1.shtml and mbm 5.3.7.0 at majorgeeks.com/Motherboard_Monitor_d311.html, update 2 at majorgeeks.com/Motherboard_Monitor_5.3.7.0_Update_2_d5261.html

I tried on my old PIII PC the software Mbprobe and I must say is really excellent and complete! Not only detects the GL520SM sensors, but also many other sensors types, and it is fully configurable.

Hope this helps.

I41Mar