Show off your old and retro computer parts

[BondiBlue]

Just now, da na said:

Both Windows 10. 
Celeron can barely run UT99, P4 can run UT2004 no problem. 

I have no interest in either of those, but yeah, I can see why those would be better on the P4. 

1 minute ago, da na said:

And web browsing on P4 actually feels smoother. 

Strange. 

[da na]

6 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

I have no interest in either of those, but yeah, I can see why those would be better on the P4. 

Strange. 

especially that awful AMD A6 chip, it thermal throttles and clocks down to 1.2ghz on both cores in the lightest of uses. A lot of that is down to the hardware of the laptops I suppose, not the CPUs themselves but still, terrible stuff

[BondiBlue]

2 minutes ago, da na said:

especially that awful AMD A6 chip, it thermal throttles and clocks down to 1.2ghz on both cores in the lightest of uses. A lot of that is down to the hardware of the laptops I suppose, not the CPUs themselves but still, terrible stuff

Never had much of a great experience with mobile AMD chips from that era. I had one Toshiba Satellite laptop that had an A4 or something, and it wasn't too bad running Windows 8.1. I sold it to a family member years ago, and it's still in use today. In fact, I just did a bit of work on it a few months ago. It's starting to have some GPU/LCD issues though, so not sure how much longer it'll be around. 

[da na]

7 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

Never had much of a great experience with mobile AMD chips from that era. I had one Toshiba Satellite laptop that had an A4 or something, and it wasn't too bad running Windows 8.1. I sold it to a family member years ago, and it's still in use today. In fact, I just did a bit of work on it a few months ago. It's starting to have some GPU/LCD issues though, so not sure how much longer it'll be around. 

Turion was the worst - I've got one of those (about to have another), they're slower than a Core 2 Duo (even a Pentium M). Also less efficient and run hotter. Not particularly compelling chips. 2ghz Turion is slightly slower than 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo while having triple the TDP. Even gets beaten by a 1.86ghz x86 Core Duo. 

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, BondiBlue said:

A P4 661 Cedarmill chip is MUCH faster than the little 1.6GHz Willamette chip in my old laptop. Trust me, that laptop was struggling with web browsing almost a decade ago, and that was with the benefit of a stripped down OS, but I can see how a Cedarmill chip would still be somewhat usable.

One of those Toshiba laptops? 

Yes, 1.6ghz P4, upgraded RAM at some point but I forgot to how much, this one has some fairly low end ATI GPU. I don't know where the charger has gone and I'm pretty sure the battery is dead. It's running Linux, I forgot if it's setup for dual boot. Wifi PCMCIA card didn't work with Linux so it was an offline laptop lol. I upgraded to a Pentium M based laptop which was lightyears faster.

[BondiBlue]

24 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Yes, 1.6ghz P4, upgraded RAM at some point but I forgot to how much, this one has some fairly low end ATI GPU. I don't know where the charger has gone and I'm pretty sure the battery is dead. It's running Linux, I forgot if it's setup for dual boot. Wifi PCMCIA card didn't work with Linux so it was an offline laptop lol. I upgraded to a Pentium M based laptop which was lightyears faster.

Does it look like this? I don't think I've ever run across someone else who owned one of these things. If that's what it is then sure, I'd gladly take it if you don't need it. 

 

[iHardware Shelden]

5 hours ago, gen_angry said:

Another case with similar retro-like I/O (lots of 5 1/4, 3 1/2s, and even a floppy drive bay) is the Antec VSK4000E which is generally available where you'd normally get a case. There's a USB 3 version out now but for years it was only USB 2. Even if you got the 3, you could get a USB 3 -> USB 2 adapter and use it all the same.

 

 

I like that one also, looks to be just under $100 on amazon right now and a bit cheaper elsewhere 

[iHardware Shelden]

4 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

Very nice. I haven't messed around with my P4 desktops in a couple years. I've got a couple CPUs ready to be used for something, and I've got a nice Intel motherboard (socket 478, D845GBF IIRC), but I just haven't had the time to get everything out that I want to use with it. Maybe one day. 

 

As for socket 423, I only own one 423 system, and it's not a desktop. It's a laptop with a 1.6GHz socket 423 P4 installed, specifically a Toshiba Satellite 1905-S277. It's quite a chunky laptop, and it's getting pretty old at this point, but I used it for quite a while. I recall actively using it until maybe 2013 or 2014. By the end I had it running Tiny7 (stripped down Windows 7), and considering the fact that I was doing that with 768MB of RAM and the original 30GB hard drive it was surprisingly usable. It could even still do a little bit of web browsing at the time, though today that would be a terrible idea. 

 

I've got some good memories of that laptop. It's run everything from MS-DOS 6.22 + Windows 3.1 all the way through Windows 7, and despite being over 20 years old the original battery still held a little bit of a charge when I last had it out. The original hard drive is in terrible health, but it also still works somehow. I think it's got a copy of Windows Vista on it at the moment, which is the OS I liked to use on that machine the most. 

You should for sure play around with that stuff, Pentium 4s are such a weird era of Intel. Socket 478 is for sure the best IMO, you don't get the super slow 423 chips and the weird early LGA 775 quirks with older operating systems like Win98. 775 Pentium 4 chips are great for XP systems though. 478 seems to be the go-to for Win98-XP based machines, i've got a Dell Dimension 4600 running Windows 2000 I want to get out of storage and test out some AGP cards and a Dell XPS gen 5 I believe with a 775 Pentium 4, I don't recall which chip though. Both have been in storage since 2015 and need some love!

 

[gen_angry]

2 hours ago, iHardware Shelden said:

You should for sure play around with that stuff, Pentium 4s are such a weird era of Intel. Socket 478 is for sure the best IMO, you don't get the super slow 423 chips and the weird early LGA 775 quirks with older operating systems like Win98. 775 Pentium 4 chips are great for XP systems though. 478 seems to be the go-to for Win98-XP based machines, i've got a Dell Dimension 4600 running Windows 2000 I want to get out of storage and test out some AGP cards and a Dell XPS gen 5 I believe with a 775 Pentium 4, I don't recall which chip though. Both have been in storage since 2015 and need some love!

 

I've got a socket 478 system that I use for 98 and early XP (3.0c, x850 Pro, 2GB RAM, Audigy 2 ZS). Sadly the PSU died on it so my phenom II is playing in the XP role for now, have to find one that isn't too expensive and has a bit beefier +3.3v and +5v rails than most moderns cuz of that x850 card. I've had a number of different systems from around that era and none have been as stable for 98 as that 865PE chipset has been.

 

The crown jewel for 98/XP dual booters is one particular LGA775 board though - Asus P5PE-VM. Has a 865G chipset with AGP so you get that great 98 support and can take a core 2 duo which will give it quite a bit of muscle for XP, even if it's gimped a bit by DDR1 ram. I've been looking to get my hands on one for a while now that isn't at a ridiculous price or coming from Eastern Europe (no hate, just have had a lot of bad experiences with shipping from there).

[Dabombinable]

9 hours ago, iHardware Shelden said:

Hmm might need to get one of these for a similar use, throw one of my socket 423 boards in it. Where did you pick one up?

Edit: Go with second hand mainstream cases if you are in a position to pick them up or get them cheap in good condition. Can't stress enough how stupid it is to buy one of these cases at the price (even though I am happy with the results).

Ebay Australia. There are several different models, some still with the PSU for extra (strong 3.3V and 5V rails). Which can also be bought separate since the seller is to be blunt - a bit shitty. The PSU are removed from the case, and then the case is boxed back up (the boxes are marked from the factory to show a PSU being included).

Mine is the ($70 AUD - I know, but I wanted new) SPEED H698 (80-120mm rear fan, 1x 3.5" mount, 1x 5.25" to 3.5" adapter, 8x 5.25" mounts total).

 

The $80 AUD (better - 120mm front fan, 3.5" drive mounts) SPEED H688 is what was used for my Mum's retro PC - and she actually liked the look of the weird (but luckily PS/2 compatible) USB mouse that came with it.

Some of them though have the front panel hot glued on - understandable since 2x of the clips on mine are half broken.

[Bitter]

9 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

Does it look like this? I don't think I've ever run across someone else who owned one of these things. If that's what it is then sure, I'd gladly take it if you don't need it. 

 

Slightly different model here.

https://support.dynabook.com/support/staticContentDetail?contentId=637924&isFromTOCLink=false

I swore it had a 1.6 P4 in it but I was wrong. Celeron. Womp womp

[iHardware Shelden]

6 hours ago, gen_angry said:

I've got a socket 478 system that I use for 98 and early XP (3.0c, x850 Pro, 2GB RAM, Audigy 2 ZS). Sadly the PSU died on it so my phenom II is playing in the XP role for now, have to find one that isn't too expensive and has a bit beefier +3.3v and +5v rails than most moderns cuz of that x850 card. I've had a number of different systems from around that era and none have been as stable for 98 as that 865PE chipset has been.

 

The crown jewel for 98/XP dual booters is one particular LGA775 board though - Asus P5PE-VM. Has a 865G chipset with AGP so you get that great 98 support and can take a core 2 duo which will give it quite a bit of muscle for XP, even if it's gimped a bit by DDR1 ram. I've been looking to get my hands on one for a while now that isn't at a ridiculous price or coming from Eastern Europe (no hate, just have had a lot of bad experiences with shipping from there).

Those boards are sweet! But ya the prices went wild, same with the ones with AGP and PCIe, most are not great but one you can use both a pcie based GPU along side a AGP card, technically you could throw a pci one in as well. Think they were AMD or 775 based from ASUS

[ApolloX75]

Well as predicted my gamble didn't pay off as well as expected at first. All three boards were DOA. The Intel DZ68BC would boot but hang on code 13 and then infinite loop, the Maximus V Gene has standby power and flashback capability, but that's it, no power on at all. And the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H had power once, and then never again.

 

I fixed the Z68 tonight though; after an exhaustive inspection of the board I figured out someone had removed the CLR_RTC jumper and left it completely open, so reinstalled a jumper and voila, no more Code 13. I've been running crossfire 5850s on it all evening and benching it to make sure. The other two though... no luck yet. I haven't been able to spot any burnt components, even with my handy dandy electronic microscope. No bent pins, some hefty corrosion that a good soaking in contact cleaner and some concentrated air took care of, but that's it.

 

I'm not the only one who gambled and lost though, my comrade in arms in this collection of old tech dropped off a bunch of stuff which included a Maximus III Formula. It's DOA also, same symptoms as the Gene! What are the odds of that? Haha.

 

 

[Yurnero]

So I found this while cleaning the storage at work.

 

Wonder if I should even try to boot it up to see if any caps goes kaboom

[Bitter]

Is that a socket7 single board computer in a carrier card for a cash register or something?

[Yurnero]

Supposedly, it's a server for voice recording and other shenanigans. (The place where I work do have a call center)

 

The daughter board has a core duo CPU (I did took it apart last time by curiosity) and it had a Windows XP on it.

 

I searched a bit on the internet. 

 

The Motherboard : https://www.ebay.com/itm/334507557169

The (main) daughter board : https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804649273395.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt

 

(damn those 2 combined alone are more expensive than my current setup)

 

I still can't find the other one on the middle yet.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

What do we count these as?

 

[Sir Beregond]

1 minute ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

What do we count these as?

 

Windows XP logo yet says "Designed for Windows 11"...okay.

 

Nvidia logo from mid-2000s, check.

 

AMD Ryzen but with the Bulldozer and prior era brand colors.

 

This is funny. 

[CerealExperimentsLain]

2 minutes ago, Sir Beregond said:

Windows XP logo yet says "Designed for Windows 11"...okay.

 

Nvidia logo from mid-2000s, check.

 

AMD Ryzen but with the Bulldozer and prior era brand colors.

 

This is funny. 

https://geekenspiel.com/collections

 

They're from here.  They sell both 'Reproduction Retro' case stickers but also 'New Parts In Retro Design' case stickers.

[8tg]

Just arrived today, a socket 478 peltier cooler

complete In box never used, though I will need a us power cord for it

does your cpu cooler come with a pci power supply you have to plug into the wall?

it takes what looks like a pcie 8 pin but isn’t a pcie 8 pin because this existed before pcie

the molex is output for fan control, if you plug your psu into this psu, it explodes 

end goal is to freeze my 478 build for no reason, I’m using a 2ghz P4 so trying to throw a peltier on it will make it an ice cube for fun 

[Bitter]

Ugh it's not even that old but this H55 board is giving me fits. Win10 installer doesn't see the drive, it was running 10 before! Ok fine I'll just put Linux on a spare cheap SSD. Install failed with a hardware error likely bad SSD, cable, or corrupted install ISO. I suspect I've got either a bad cable or this version of 10 installer doesn't have the Intel drivers for the chipset SATA ports or I'm on a chipset port that's not part of the H55 chipset but a board port. It's got like 8 ports. 

[Kilrah]

16 minutes ago, 8tg said:

Just arrived today, a socket 478 peltier cooler

Nice, a friend of mine had the Thermaltake branded version of that, blue cooler and orange fan blades. Still have some parts of it laying around.

[Mitko_DSV]

3 hours ago, Sir Beregond said:

Windows XP logo yet says "Designed for Windows 11"...okay.

I'm sorry, but this definitely isn't the XP logo, it's the Windows 98 one if I'm not mistaken.

[ApolloX75]

2 hours ago, Bitter said:

Ugh it's not even that old but this H55 board is giving me fits. Win10 installer doesn't see the drive, it was running 10 before! Ok fine I'll just put Linux on a spare cheap SSD. Install failed with a hardware error likely bad SSD, cable, or corrupted install ISO. I suspect I've got either a bad cable or this version of 10 installer doesn't have the Intel drivers for the chipset SATA ports or I'm on a chipset port that's not part of the H55 chipset but a board port. It's got like 8 ports. 

Check your config for the drive setup in the BIOS. I have issues going back and forth with AHCI and IDE modes with my Core2 boards. It's a shot in the dark but it sounds like the same issue.

[Bitter]

6 hours ago, ApolloX75 said:

Check your config for the drive setup in the BIOS. I have issues going back and forth with AHCI and IDE modes with my Core2 boards. It's a shot in the dark but it sounds like the same issue.

Maybe but I'm trying to do a virgin install so even if it's in IDE or AHCI it should just roll with it. I'm going to spend some time on it tomorrow, too tired for the frustration tonight. It wouldn't be so bad if I had USB 3.0 where the installers just FLY right along but it's a bit of a waiting game on 2.0 speeds and the 3.0 add in card isn't bootable.