TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Trekkie4]

I clearly remember the price of my Pentium II machine, as if it was yesterday! Like I mentioned earlier, it was purchased in October 1998 and the entire price tag was around 2260USD which (ironically enough) equals EXACTLY 1998€ It came with the following specs:

CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM, Slot 1
RAM: 1x 64MB, PC100
VIDEO1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VIDEO2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
HDD: Quantum Fireball, 6.4GB P/ATA
Sound: Creative SoundBlaster128
ODD: BTC CD-ROM 36X
FDD: Sony 1.44MB Floppy

Other:
Shamrock 15" CRT Monitor
Rockwell Dial-Up Fax Modem
BTC Ergonomic keyboard

 

[stinger608]

October 1998 and the entire price tag was around 2260USD which (ironically enough) equals EXACTLY 1998€

And that was a TON of money in 1998!!!!!! That is awesome @Trekkie4 that you remember that so clearly man.

 

[Trekkie4]

It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment! And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Along with mentioned Pentium II, the company (Adison) gave me this nice waterproof & watertight watch! It might look cheap, but trust me guys this thing had been under the sea several times, up to 3m deep and it still works!


Here's the original case, which I'm sorry to say unable to find Probably never will be again, and I would actually be willing to spend a fortune on this thing!

And here is the same system, today! Currently sitting on a shelf decommissioned from "active" service, but otherwise still in working condition if needed

 

[stinger608]

It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment! And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Along with mentioned Pentium II, the company (Adison) gave me this nice waterproof & watertight watch! It might look cheap, but trust me guys this thing had been under the sea several times, up to 3m deep and it still works!


Here's the original case, which I'm sorry to say unable to find Probably never will be again, and I would actually be willing to spend a fortune on this thing!

And here is the same system, today! Currently sitting on a shelf decommissioned from "active" service, but otherwise still in working condition if needed

That is frigging awesome man!!!!!


Weird issue @Trekkie4 : Every time I try to open one of your images it goes to a bad URL at Wix.com?

 

[Trekkie4]

Wix.com?! I have no idea, it all looks perfectly normal from over here. Using PostImage.org as image hosting service, except for those 2 Adison tower pics, which were uploaded to TPU image host... What about the rest of you guys?

So anyway, I'll see if I can dig out more documentation on this thing tomorrow. I have a box that's full of promotional brochures, Intel Pentium 2 warranty booklets & genuine Windows 98 stuff!

 

[Mr.Scott]

I have no issue opening any of your pics.

 

[vigia]

Weird issue @Trekkie4 : Every time I try to open one of your images it goes to a bad URL at Wix.com

The links are working fine here, flush your dns or try a different dns server

 

[stinger608]

Odd, now they are working fine. Probably something with Chrome as that is what I use for a browser normally.

 

[Trekkie4]

Here's couple of more Adison-related pics...

Chaintech 6BTM Mobo software utility CD


Same for Creative SoundBlaster 128


SuperVoice Fax Modem software utilities


Right here!


Bravo! Adison is an excellent choice, we guarantee you! (down below it says "Adison, computer you're going to love") Which I honestly do!!


Pentium II installation booklets & tech instructions...


6BTM User manual & promotional brochure, featuring all 5 of their models. Starting with the cheapest one on top, up to the most expensive one down below. Mine was "Open Space", 4th model


A closer look at the cheapest model, featuring the 15" Shamrock CRT monitor which I have.


A closer look at the "Multimedia" model, featuring the bigger CRT monitor with built-in speakers & fancy looking case


And there it is, the one I had... Except mine didn't have a Zip drive, I bought it few years later. And that was actually my keyboard, the ergonomic PS/2 keyboard made by BTC


User's Manual for previously mentioned Shamrock CRT monitor. Ironically, this monitor survived everything & was in working condition up to a month ago, when I used it to test that Celeron 466 build from the previous page. It seems that the voltage regulator blew out, so I'll have to pay to have it replaced. Yes, I'm actually going to have this one fixed, as it means a lot to me.

 

[Trekkie4]

Moving on with Pentium 600 build... Time to put the cable management together

I guess this is as good as you can get, with having this kind of case design & PSU layout. I know, I know... It's not perfect but whatever!


And there it is, all put together! It obviously doesn't have any OS and/or games yet, I'll have to deal with those some other time.


Oh and by the way, you might recognize these...


Of course you do!


I don't understand a single word in German, but this booklet is very useful, especially when it comes to pinouts for the front panel, not to mention RAM & CPU support. I also have the original floppy for HighPoint ATA controller somewhere, but I can't seem to remember where

 

[mmx_91]

It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment! And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Along with mentioned Pentium II, the company (Adison) gave me this nice waterproof & watertight watch! It might look cheap, but trust me guys this thing had been under the sea several times, up to 3m deep and it still works!


Here's the original case, which I'm sorry to say unable to find Probably never will be again, and I would actually be willing to spend a fortune on this thing!

And here is the same system, today! Currently sitting on a shelf decommissioned from "active" service, but otherwise still in working condition if needed

I found this exact same case advertised in Wallapop today!! Sadly, it's in Spain but it's the same model, and no more information is shown. I can send you the link if you want to

 

[Trekkie4]

OH MY GOD!! Yes, that's the one!! Wow, I've been searching for this thing for years & nothing! Yes, please send me the link & I'll see what I can do...

Edit
@mmx_91 I've been browsing through Wallapop & can't seem to find it anywhere So yeah, if you would be so kind to send me a link... I want to know how much they're asking for it, at this point I'd even be willing to buy it & have it shipped to Croatia (if possible)

Edit2
I got in touch with the seller & asked if they would be willing to have it shipped. Which they WOULD, but it's going to cost me a lot of money Something which I don't have at the moment, so I'll have to be super creative... But I'm not letting this one slip through my fingers!

 

[JunkBear]

It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment! And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Along with mentioned Pentium II, the company (Adison) gave me this nice waterproof & watertight watch! It might look cheap, but trust me guys this thing had been under the sea several times, up to 3m deep and it still works!


Here's the original case, which I'm sorry to say unable to find Probably never will be again, and I would actually be willing to spend a fortune on this thing!

And here is the same system, today! Currently sitting on a shelf decommissioned from "active" service, but otherwise still in working condition if needed

Are you from Quebec? We had Adison store here.

 

[Trekkie4]

Nope, I'm from Croatia (Central Europe, EU). But this is getting better & better, tell me more! You mean the same company, with the same logo? Because I always thought they were local... Unfortunately both Adison & distribution grid behind them, called Polaris went bankrupt around 2002, 2003.

 

[xkm1948]

Anyone have an ultimate socket 7 build? Say an ASUS T2P4 with a K6III? That would be nice to see!

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Anyone have an ultimate socket 7 build? Say an ASUS T2P4 with a K6III? That would be nice to see!

I have a K6-2 500 cpu. Been looking for the right mobo to go with it for years and have almost lost hope in finding one at a decent price.

 

[Grings]

for some of us Building a Retro system means building a system relevent to the right time period and of course the best it could of been for the Period
that means
for a p2 system
The fastest CPU you can find
the max mem you can get for the system
The Best Graphics card availabe to you for the period
in the 90's you may have only had a 233 p2 ( cost and available funds ) but Dreamed of a p2 450Mhz

with the Passing of the years its now possible to build that dream spec retro system

Thats my view

For me its building a system to a particular version of Windows

At the moment i'm trying to work out the best crap i have laying around for a Windows 98se system, and also an XP one

XP is pretty open, but being 32 bit i dont really want to go sticking a 2 or 3 gig GPU in because of the old 4gb limit, i think i will use a core2 9550 2gb ram and an 896mb gtx260

98 is where it gets interesting, i still have some Socket A, 754 and 939 stuff, but dont know what the driver situation is like on the A64 era bits, same for graphics cards, on AGP i have a 4200ti, 6600gt or a 9800pro (not sure if the 6600 had a 98 driver)

 

[vigia]

not sure if the 6600 had a 98 driver

from the forceware 81.98 you cover the 6600gt on win98, I used my core E6600 with 4 gigs (3.4 effective) with xp32.

 

[GreiverBlade]

XP is pretty open, but being 32 bit i dont really want to go sticking a 2 or 3 gig GPU in because of the old 4gb limit, i think i will use a core2 9550 2gb ram and an 896mb gtx260

mmhhhh? the 32bit of the OS only concern system RAM (SDR DDR etc) and not vRAM (GPU) (confirmed after some google'ing )

tho well ... it would be sad to have a 4gb gpu in a retro rig, i think the most modern GPU i used for a Win Xp pro 32 rig was a GT730 2gb for laugh (oh well and a R7 240 1gb previously woops... i used a R9 290 in the dual opteron setup also ... 4gb obviously )

my next one will be with a C2D E8500 (again) the XFX 650i Ultra and the 8800 Ultra 768mb unless i decide to use the 3870 256mb i have aside

or ... MSI K8N Neo2 + Athlon 64 and probably the 9800XT 256mb agp (singe it's a AGP board) as my DFI LanParty NF4 U is ... seemingly dead

i still have to find some idea for the SuperMicro H8DCE and the 2x Opteron 64 but i am not sure the mobo handle the 250 so i guess i will have to revert to the 248 4gb DDR ECC and dual 6600GT ... probably will use the NZXT Phantom since it's mine now (my friend gave it to me for free after i did some cleaning and "optimizing" jobs on his Win 7 laptop and MacBook Pro )


... for recollection ... the dual Opteron Hawaiian beast ...


i love digging back in the thread ... as i said many time ... by far my favorite on TPU

 

[Grings]

Well ive been digging and getting dusty and found this lot so far...

a 64meg 4200ti, a pair of 9800 pro's, an AGP 6600gt, an ATI X1800xl, a 9600GT, an 8800GTS, a 3870 and a pair of gtx 260's (i also have a second 6950 and a 7950 coming back from loan soon, but with xp limited to dx9 theres no point using these)

I also found my Asus A7N8X Deluxe, and a Socket A Aopen Shuttle Copy with an Nforce 2 chipset that i completely forgot about, it was actually pretty cool once i fitted a decent cooler, it has a Mobile Athlon Xp (Barton? the 512meg cache one after thoroughbred-b)

 

[Trekkie4]

For me its building a system to a particular version of Windows

At the moment i'm trying to work out the best crap i have laying around for a Windows 98se system, and also an XP one

XP is pretty open, but being 32 bit i dont really want to go sticking a 2 or 3 gig GPU in because of the old 4gb limit, i think i will use a core2 9550 2gb ram and an 896mb gtx260

98 is where it gets interesting, i still have some Socket A, 754 and 939 stuff, but dont know what the driver situation is like on the A64 era bits, same for graphics cards, on AGP i have a 4200ti, 6600gt or a 9800pro (not sure if the 6600 had a 98 driver)

One of my builds (RetroMaster 2000, the signature rig) runs both 98 & XP on separate partitions. It was a real PITA to set it up & have it running, but it does seem to be mostly stable now While the XP portion was entirely based on D3D & DirectX, the other (98) one uses Glide & a pair of Voodoo2 cards in SLI .

 

[Grings]

I did have some Voodoo 2's,a Banshee, and a few earlier AGP cards i threw out when i moved home last

 

[Trekkie4]

I know, I can totally relate to that. I threw away a perfectly working Diamond Monster 3DII card, back in 2008. I also threw away that case which @mmx_91 was kind enough to find for me, along with couple of other things. I'm a total & complete idiot!

Edit
Post number #4444 made by Trekkie4

 

[ViperXTR]

Every time i cross this street going to work

 

[Trekkie4]

Pentium Pro? Or maybe Athlon XP...