TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[erek]

it's the Black Edition even,

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[AugeK]

Since my wife is watching some mind-busting bullshit on TV I decided to return to the cellar and play around with the rubbish from the "good old times" when times were hard.
Here's my playing-around rig:


Thanks to my old Windows NT4 CD I was able to re-partition the whopping big harddrive of 80 GB so it would meet the requirements of my good old beloved OS:


OK, not really hardware related, but anyway...

 

[Ruru]

Hmm, what I should do with 3x 128GB SSDs.. two in RAID0 with a PCIe SATA card to my main rig and the third to my 2nd rig?

it's the Black Edition even,

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View attachment 230416

Practically every FX CPU is a BE as they're all unlocked. I guess AMD just wanted to continue using that in branding Phenom II BE CPUs kicked ass.

 

[AugeK]

With the SSD's, I would opt for a RAID5 if supported by your controller.
Yes, you would lose capacity but gain safety in return.

 

[Ruru]

With the SSD's, I would opt for a RAID5 if supported by your controller.
Yes, you would lose capacity but gain safety in return.

Purely for games so speed is more important. Having two drives for 128GB is just meh.

edit: I'll probably put the single drive to my PS3 to replace its 80GB HDD.

 

[Ruru]

Yeah so I did put that single LiteOn drive to PS3. Before I did everything the hard way (just took all savefiles etc. to a flash drive and changed the drive) but now I took a backup to a FAT32 formatted HDD via USB adapter, then recovered the backup to the SSD. Worked like a charm, though it took pretty damn long.

I've had a SSD on PS3 before, not huge improvements but still a nice thing.

 

[MaxiPro800]

That's one way I'll probably do with my backwards compatible CECHC03 PS3.
Something about that model is just so sexy to leave it rot away, especially after the ungodly amount of TLC I put into the console.
A few of the stuff I've done to it include a 250GB HDD (it's the only thing I had available at the moment when I started working on it), a dual laser bluray deck from a CECHK04, as well a slightly more efficient PSU from a CECHG04.

The only thing it's missing is a HDD cover. I couldn't manage to find one locally anywhere, and G04 HDD covers don't fit.

 

[Yukikaze]

I was digging through some old computer hardware I had in boxes and found this pair of beauties that I have fond memories of. I used them for secondary displays back in the day, and for some very weird systems I put together over the years. They're not quite rare enough to go into the Rare GPUs thread, but I think they fit nicely here.

First, we have an ECS 8400GS 512MB DDR2:

And now we have a Sparkle 8500GT 256MB DDR2:

Now, if you got this far wondering what's so special about a pair of low-end cards from 2008, look at the connectors again. These are PCI (as opposed to PCIe) video cards! I don't even have anything I can run them on nowdays, but as far as I know, both are still functional (I do have a PCIe x1 to dual PCI adapter, so I might give them a shot sometime). PCI cards were hard to find even back then, and now relatively modern PCI cards are all but extinct (The GT520 and GT610 were the last PCI cards that I know of, circa 2013, and they are not very easy to find today AND people want like 100$ a unit).

As a side note, the most powerful PCI video card I am aware of is the Zotac GT430 512MB, with a whopping 96 CUDA cores. I'd like to have one for my collection!

 

[Ruru]

I was digging through some old computer hardware I had in boxes and found this pair of beauties that I have fond memories of. I used them for secondary displays back in the day, and for some very weird systems I put together over the years. They're not quite rare enough to go into the Rare GPUs thread, but I think they fit nicely here.

First, we have an ECS 8400GS 512MB DDR2:
View attachment 230874
View attachment 230875

And now we have a Sparkle 8500GT 256MB DDR2:
View attachment 230876

View attachment 230879
Now, if you got this far wondering what's so special about a pair of low-end cards from 2008, look at the connectors again. These are PCI (as opposed to PCIe) video cards! I don't even have anything I can run them on nowdays, but as far as I know, both are still functional (I do have a PCIe x1 to dual PCI adapter, so I might give them a shot sometime). PCI cards were hard to find even back then, and now relatively modern PCI cards are all but extinct (The GT520 and GT610 were the last PCI cards that I know of, circa 2013, and they are not very easy to find today AND people want like 100$ a unit).

As a side note, the most powerful PCI video card I am aware of is the Zotac GT430 512MB, with a whopping 96 CUDA cores. I'd like to have one for my collection!

Nice PCI cards. Do some benchmarks if you have the time

edit: also, that "as opposed to PCIe", some younger TPUers probably haven't ever seen PCIe unless they come to this thread.

 

[lexluthermiester]

First, we have an ECS 8400GS 512MB DDR2

Those caps are bulging. They'll need replacement soon. You might want to check the caps on that 8500 as well, just to be safe.

 

[Yukikaze]

Those caps are bulging. They'll need replacement soon. You might want to check the caps on that 8500 as well, just to be safe.

Oh damn good eyes. I didn't even think about checking for that! Looks like some cap transplant surgery is in order. Thanks!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Oh damn good eyes. I didn't even think about checking for that! Looks like some cap transplant surgery is in order. Thanks!

YW. Have you looked under the heatsink on that 8500?

 

[Yukikaze]

YW. Have you looked under the heatsink on that 8500?

Not yet - Too busy with work.

 

[stef]

Two ATI R300-based cards (FireGL X1-128 and Radeon 9700 XT) with performance coolers:

And some quick testing:

Great alternatives to Radeon 9700 Pro, and usually much cheaper .

it's the Black Edition even,

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Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Rare Metal Box AMD FX 8350 8 Core CPU AM3+ W/Heatsink NOS Sealed Please Read! at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

View attachment 230416

The only CPU that made my PSU squeal, literally. Bought Gold-certified Corsair RM650x ... same issue, just a bit more silent.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

That score looks more like an X800 series or later! Including X8xx GTO? A 9800 Pro, usually don't have more than the 17000s.

 

[stef]

CPU score drives Mark2001, 2003 would be more appropriate. Also, everything is overclocked .

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

CPU score drives Mark2001

Yes, it's indeed true with the Car Chase test. But, the others, hardly in comparison if even at all. The other tests in 3D Mark 2001 SE, are GPU-influenced.

 

[Mr.Scott]

That score looks more like an X800 series or later! Including X8xx GTO? A 9800 Pro, usually don't have more than the 17000s.

Ummmm.......
No

CPU score drives Mark2001, 2003 would be more appropriate. Also, everything is overclocked .

I benchmark. I understand you.

 

[stef]

Here's puny Radeon 9500 with Omega driver:

Hmm ... not sure why Dragotic - Low detail and Nature tests differ so much from Mr. Scottie's. Especially Nature.

And this is FireGL X3-256@16 pipes and stock clock (X800XT equivalent):

 

[Mr.Scott]

Hmm ... not sure why Dragotic - Low detail and Nature tests differ so much from Mr. Scottie's. Especially Nature.

Because I tweak level of detail.

 

[stef]

You cheater, you .
But relatively small difference from 24k to 30k for double the hardware.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Note that the score numbers I mentioned were from back in the more-period-correct times. Based on scores that were submitted. I didn't need to posses such card to see how much better it was doing than my lowly-even-at-the-time ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. (64 MB, IIRC) With no modded drivers, I bet. I just don't remember the scores being so high like that!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Not yet - Too busy with work.

No worries. Show us the finished work when you get time!

 

[stef]

Note that the score numbers I mentioned were from back in the more-period-correct times. Based on scores that were submitted. I didn't need to posses such card to see how much better it was doing than my lowly-even-at-the-time ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. (64 MB, IIRC) With no modded drivers, I bet. I just don't remember the scores being so high like that!

Mark2001 is still very popular mostly because it's a numbers game. Just checked, current record is 243.108 with sub-zero cooled i9 12900K and stock clocked GTX 980 Ti.

 

[QuietBob]

Driver optimizations affect the score greatly. Both runs use default 3DMark settings, but in the first one driver settings have been tweaked for maximum performance. The second one is with maximum image quality. The staggering difference in Dragothic is reflected in the total score.

Posted from the actual rig
EDIT: re-uploaded the second image with correct GPU clocks.