Show off your old and retro computer parts

[Bitter]

19 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

Might do Coppermine. My Asus P2L97 lacks the microcode in the BIOS, but the voltage regulator goes down to 1.7V, so I can actually use my PIII 650 on it - with SSE functioning correctly (66/75/83MHz FSB).

My Intel SE440BX-2 luckily is one of the later revisions, so it supports every Slot1 CPU (in theory Cyrix/Via CIII via Slotket as well). Doesn't provide much AGP power however, so no FX or Radeon 9000 series cards.

I vaguely recall people soldering leads to cards to get them to work in the wrong AGP slot, probably using tape to block the fingers to make it work right.

[Dabombinable]

5 hours ago, Bitter said:

I vaguely recall people soldering leads to cards to get them to work in the wrong AGP slot, probably using tape to block the fingers to make it work right.

In this case, the board outright can't provide enough power - Intel in their wisdom decided to use weak mosfets. They are miniscule compared to any found on my older and newer Slot1/Socket370 boards. They can do the voltages, but not with enough current. Fastest card I've had running on the SE440BX-2 is the SiS 315.

[Bitter]

4 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

In this case, the board outright can't provide enough power - Intel in their wisdom decided to use weak mosfets. They are miniscule compared to any found on my older and newer Slot1/Socket370 boards. They can do the voltages, but not with enough current. Fastest card I've had running on the SE440BX-2 is the SiS 315.

Eh, some AGP cards even had external power be it from a power brick (Ok just Voodoo I think) or from one or two Molex (Nvidia for sure, my 6800U). No reason you can't kapton tape over the power delivery fingers and just solder a connector onto the card somewhere to the power and ground planes on that voltage and supply it externally. Sure it would be a frankenstein hack job but it ought to work.

[WhitetailAni]

On 3/13/2024 at 5:21 PM, pim69 said:

I have an old Seagate server hard drive, don't know it's capacity but it's HUGE and HEAVY.

That's a whole 9 gigabytes! Can you take a video of spinning it up?

(mildly curious if it will spontaneously die)

(i have owned 9 seagate drives and every single one has died)

[SimplyChunk]

the Soundblaster Pro 2 works!!  Can't get it to work with the AWE64 in there as well seems they clash like a bastard.  Guess I'll post a vid of it working and get it in the classifieds  

[da na]

3 hours ago, WhitetailAni said:

That's a whole 9 gigabytes! Can you take a video of spinning it up?

(mildly curious if it will spontaneously die)

(i have owned 9 seagate drives and every single one has died)

My 1980s Seagate drives are way more reliable than any of the new ones.

I don't trust Exos because it's not a real server drive, just a rebranded Barracuda. Their real server drives (Cheetah) are fantastic, though. 

[Bitter]

Anyone local to Chicago area want an e-Machines with a 1.2ghz Celeron, 128mb SDR, etc. Sounds like socket 370. It's in a dumpster down the street from work, I can grab it if someone wants it and figure out where to hand it off later.

[Dabombinable]

8 hours ago, Bitter said:

Eh, some AGP cards even had external power be it from a power brick (Ok just Voodoo I think) or from one or two Molex (Nvidia for sure, my 6800U). No reason you can't kapton tape over the power delivery fingers and just solder a connector onto the card somewhere to the power and ground planes on that voltage and supply it externally. Sure it would be a frankenstein hack job but it ought to work.

Actually...I really should just for shits and giggles try my GF6600GT on it. I have to pull the 300W PSU from my old AthlonXP build but it should work. Never actually going to be permanent as I have need for the PSU and card in their current builds.

If I ever figure out what went wrong with my "FX5500", it'd make a great frankenstein card. Only the pads where components are installed have solder, because it was made that cheaply. Also means that the ground plane should be fairly small, and not soak up most of the soldering iron's heat.

[da na]

8 hours ago, Bitter said:

Eh, some AGP cards even had external power be it from a power brick (Ok just Voodoo I think) or from one or two Molex (Nvidia for sure, my 6800U). No reason you can't kapton tape over the power delivery fingers and just solder a connector onto the card somewhere to the power and ground planes on that voltage and supply it externally. Sure it would be a frankenstein hack job but it ought to work.

Reminds me of HP's solution to high end mobile GPUs circa late 2000s. MXM was brand new, couldn't deliver a lot of power.

So what did they do? Add 40 extra pins to the connector for power delivery.

[da na]

Brought along an old friend while traveling for a few days. 

Excuse the poor quality photos, my phone camera is truly horrendous.

This was the first 'retro' system I picked up three years or so ago. Had a rather bad CPU but a decent Gigabyte motherboard and RAM, so I stuck with it. Bought an Athlon 64 x2 6000+ for it 2 years back and that chip is quite the beast.

It ran a GeForce 6800 for most of its time with me until recently, when I acquired a new-old-stock Quadro FX 1800. It's still very surreal seeing a card of this era still pristinely shiny and free of dust and scratches. 

 

GPU still has under 24 hours of use but that's about to change tomorrow.

 

[luckybob77]

Gather around children! I finally got myself a 286 machine!

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/m3a2tMY

 

well, it started life as a 286 anyway.  

 

Nothing quite as sexy as a monolithic beige tower with a power switch that makes so much noise, you would think you broke a finger.

[Bitter]

Nothing like the SNAP of an AT power switch flip. Ours was over on the side and a socket 7 machine.

[SimplyChunk]

6 hours ago, luckybob77 said:

Nothing quite as sexy as a monolithic beige tower with a power switch that makes so much noise, you would think you broke a finger.

 

5 hours ago, Bitter said:

Nothing like the SNAP of an AT power switch flip. Ours was over on the side and a socket 7 machine.

 

**THWITCH!!**  I remember those things..They sound like a whip cracking off 

[da na]

Radeon X1800 in my XPS M2010 has started to show signs of failure. Of course, the only reasonable recourse would be to buy a lot of 8 untested cards, so that is exactly what I've done. Hopefully I get even a single functioning card out of it 

That said, I'd be happy to consign any redundant working cards I find to one of the four M2010 owners on the planet. 

These XPS Mxx10  systems are fantastic, but also the least reliable laptops I have ever dealt with. M1710 only has 4 compatible GPU SKUs and 4 more unofficially supported cards, the M2010 has ...one. And now that both are nearing 20yrs old, cards are getting hard to find...

I imagine their issues are not difficult to fix for someone of adequate skill, just bad caps and weak solder, but I don't trust myself or my equipment with board level repair of such hardware.

[WhitetailAni]

Got a 36" Trinitron for free off FB Marketplace. KV-36FS13. Weighs like 250 lb. My dad said it's never leaving the basement of our house now that it's down there.

Spoiler

It's on an Ikea stand that I reinforced with some L-brackets. Supports 3 composite inputs (2 on the back, 1 on the front), 1 component, and 1 S-video (in place of one of the composite inputs).

 

I have it wired to my Wii via component, PS2 via S-video, and N64 via composite.

Spoiler

My composite PS2 cable was dying anyway, so upgrades!

 

I got the last piece of it today - remote!

Spoiler

 

It's really nice looking. I beat Kirby's Return to Dream Land on it

[da na]

2 minutes ago, WhitetailAni said:

Got a 36" Trinitron for free off FB Marketplace. KV-36FS13. Weighs like 250 lb. My dad said it's never leaving the basement of our house now that it's down there.

  Hide contents

It's on an Ikea stand that I reinforced with some L-brackets. Supports 3 composite inputs (2 on the back, 1 on the front), 1 component, and 1 S-video (in place of one of the composite inputs).

 

I have it wired to my Wii via component, PS2 via S-video, and N64 via composite.

  Hide contents

My composite PS2 cable was dying anyway, so upgrades!

 

I got the last piece of it today - remote!

  Hide contents

 

It's really nice looking. I beat Kirby's Return to Dream Land on it

Wow, flatscreen too... gorgeous.

[WhitetailAni]

6 minutes ago, da na said:

Wow, flatscreen too... gorgeous.

It was basically a race to "who can pick it up first". Someone else got there before me.... but their car was too small

[ThePCNerd129]

I still have my old amd phenom 2... Turned it into a necklace and ware it like a boss

[da na]

2 minutes ago, ThePCNerd129 said:

I still have my old amd phenom 2... Turned it into a necklace and ware it like a boss

hey, hardware almost old enough for me to use!

[luckybob77]

man, just looking at that sony is making my back hurt...

 

I do not miss CRT tech.  AT ALL.

[ThePCNerd129]

this is my old gtx 1660 may it rest in pece

[SimplyChunk]

40 minutes ago, ThePCNerd129 said:

this is my old gtx 1660 may it rest in pece

That doesn't belong here.  This isn't a DEAD hardware thread

[da na]

2 minutes ago, SimplyChunk said:

That doesn't belong here.  This isn't a DEAD hardware thread

Well there was that guy who posted the RTX 3090... 

[SimplyChunk]

got some more pics of the GA-586ATV Rev-4B and the Sound Blaster Pro 2.  Both fully tested now and working (Motherboard needs the battery replacing).

 

These will be going in my Classifieds thread shortly before going on eBay.

 

  All the caps look good on the motherboard can't see any bulging ones at least.  Not sure where the battery sits on it as there is a space for a button cell holder but no holder

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the soundcard is in equally good condition for it's age

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[da na]

2 minutes ago, SimplyChunk said:

got some more pics of the GA-586ATV Rev-4B and the Sound Blaster Pro 2.  Both fully tested now and working (Motherboard needs the battery replacing).

 

These will be going in my Classifieds thread shortly before going on eBay.

 

  All the caps look good on the motherboard can't see any bulging ones at least.  Not sure where the battery sits on it as there is a space for a button cell holder but no holder

 

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And the soundcard is in equally good condition for it's age

 

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Lovely hardware!
There is a possibility the board uses an RTC module with the chip and battery together in one DIP package, but I don't see any suspiciously wide ICs in the photos. Also possible someone could've removed a leaking battery in the past.

And wow, that board really has no I/O! 

 

Great looking soundcard too; makes me wish I had a working ISA system.