TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[stef]

Oh, I need to flash my Vortex collection .

 

[Mr.Scott]

Oh, I need to flash my Vortex collection .

I fold.

 

[framebuffer]

Nice job. Retrobrite so so. IMHO, it's overdone already. Liquid peroxide gives best results, no marble effect. And never go all the way. Plastics start looking un-natural at some point.
Personally, I hate the process.

It was my very first attempt and I did some mistakes, I guess
anyway the "marble effect" doesn't bother me so much, it also depends on the light, most of the time is barely visible.

 

[stef]

Last time I was doing it in June ... probably too hot, and way too much sun. May / August seems best for outdoors retrobriting.

 

[Trekkie4]

I'll raise you a pair.


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Nice!! I should have known you'd have couple of those laying around

I especially remember that "EAX HD" logo from early 2000s, it was even featured on Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (during the intro splash screen)

Oh, I need to flash my Vortex collection .

Not technically a Vortex collection ... but here's my Vortex 2 paired with Creative WaveBlaster II MIDI daughterboard


Of course, I also got my share of SB Live! cards but to be honest I don't really give them much credit. They're usually dirt cheap, available pretty much anywhere & not worth much. Nevertheless, a solid performer, especially when you need environmental audio effects "on the budget"

Edit
Almost forgot about this guy... ESS Maestro 2, Vortex 2 clone that's fully compatible with A3D standards. Unfortunately, this one is integrated into the board, so you can only see the actual chip in the upper-right corner:

 

[80-watt Hamster]

That's not uncommon. Floppy technology is far more durable and hardy than the general reputation would suggest.

Ya, I've been surprised more than once when slotting in a 3.5" from who-knows-when. Seems like the drives might be bigger issue, rather than the format or media. Try to read a bad write with an iffy read head...

 

[kiriakost]

Darn! Now I need to find one of these 5.25" drive bay modules...

As far I remember they never sold as stand alone, I got it from local friend when he got the card for radio broadcast system, and he was not in need for the Audigy panel.
I have also the remote control RM-900.

But eBay it might become your friend.

 

[framebuffer]

Last time I was doing it in June ... probably too hot, and way too much sun. May / August seems best for outdoors retrobriting.

oh same here, maybe July, I remember it was hot like hell but with my ignorance I thought that it would be a good thing for the retrobright process

 

[lexluthermiester]

my mostly '99 permanent build

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• ASUS P3B-F
• Pentium III 600/100
• 128MB PC100 2-2-2-5
• 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 w/ active cooling
• Sound Blaster Live!
• Adaptec SCSI Controller
• IBM 30GB HDD
• Iomega Zip 250
• Plextor PX-708A CD/DVD RW
• HP CD-40X (SCSI)
• Intel PRO/1000 GT

P.S. yep the front cover of the case needs a second retrobright cycle

The fan you mounted on that VooDoo card is exactly how I used to do it! The only thing I would change is the RAM, I'd add in 2 more 128MB DIMMs for a total of 384MB. Otherwise, nice build, very well done! Having said that;

So a kid walks into my shop today wanting to sell a PC that he's been using for a few years...

Normally, we don't take pay money for systems that old, but I was intrigued by the reason he wanted to sell it, to help his mom fix her car. To be fair, it's not a bad little system. He wanted $200. But he was willing to take $150, which is WAY more than it's worth. I was really impressed by his level of knowledge and asked him if he'd like to do some work for me sorting through systems & electronics we take in from off-lease purchasing and e-waste recycling. He was excited. Had him show me what he could do for an hour or so with some of the stuff we'd taken in. He's handy with a soldering iron as well! Called his mom to verify he was at least 14(minimum working age for minors here). She had no idea he was selling his computer to help her with the car. She was even happier to hear that I was willing to give him work a couple days a week after school. I told him that he could work for inventory as well so he could put together a newer system for himself soon.

Decided to bring this one home and turn it into a RetroXP build. It's a very compact little system and won't take up much room. Going to order either a Radeon R7-250 or a GTX750, the newest low-profile GPUs that can both fit into this system AND have XP drivers. Also going to upgrade the E8400 it has to a Q9400 or Q9550. Going to knock the RAM to 4GB because Windows XP and I don't want to fiddle with PAE. So yeah, more to come!

Try to read a bad write with an iffy read head...

I always clean the heads before putting a disc in a drive I haven't serviced myself.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Not sure if this qualifies as nostalgic yet, but it is getting up there in age.

These are my 2 X58 machines, built on opposite ends of the spectrum. The left one is a top of the line late X58 machine, the right is an earlier X58 machine with lower tier components.

Left:
i7 990x 6 Core Processor
Cooler Master ML240L
24gb Corsair Dominator
Asus P6T6 WS Revolution
EVGA Geforce GTX590 Classified (SLI Enabled)
Samsung PM830 128gb SSD
Western Digital Black 1TB HDD 7200RPM
EVGA GT650 80+ Gold

The case, PSU, and AIO are not period correct. This system will get a different more time period correct case at some point in time, looking at fractal design specifically. The NZXT S340 was what I had on hand. The 1yr old AIO does not bother me as similar AIOs were around back then and quite frankly I have little desire to deal with a very old AIO for pretty obvious reasons. I have no real desire for an old power supply either.

Right:
i7 920 @ 4.0Ghz
Cooler Master N520 Cooler
Asus Rampage III Formula (has memory issues, will probably be replaced with a working one at some point)
8gb Kingston DDR3
Corsair Airflow Kit
Samsung PM830 128gb SSD
EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 55nm 3 way SLI
EVGA GQ850 80+ Gold
Antec Three Hundred

I find the older system much more fun of a system from an enthusiasts perspective. While the i7 990x both clocks better than the 920 and performs much much better, the GTX590 really takes away a lot of the fun from the system. The card runs so insanely hot from the factory there is no real fun to be had with tweaking it at all. The GTX260 SLI has been much more fun for tinkering. I have each one binned and overclocked to their maximum.

Before you ask why I have these systems... I don't have a good reason aside from collecting and tinkering with, which is a good enough reason for me!

 

[stinger608]

That's awesome of ya @lexluthermiester

Sounds like quite the story man!!!!!!!!!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Not sure if this qualifies as nostalgic yet, but it is getting up there in age.

Close enough! No worries.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Just got an MSI P45 Platinum. Got it for $15 plus shipping listed for parts and thanks to some help here its working as it should now.

I love the crazy looks of this board, which was the main reason I bought it. The NB heatsink reminds me of a V-twin, like a Harley Davidson. MSI did some crazy things back in this era. The P35 Platinum with its roller coaster loop da loops for example.

 

[Mr.Scott]

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Just got an MSI P45 Platinum. Got it for $15 plus shipping listed for parts and thanks to some help here its working as it should now.

I love the crazy looks of this board, which was the main reason I bought it. The NB heatsink reminds me of a V-twin, like a Harley Davidson. MSI did some crazy things back in this era. The P35 Platinum with its roller coaster loop da loops for example.

I 'liked' your post because the board is intact and not all bent to sh1t like most are. The board it self is a pos overclocking wise.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

I am aware of that and just bought it for the looks. It is in excellent shape, not a bent pin in sight. I will probably take the heatsinks off to repaste. It needs a dusting too. Came with the IO shield even.

I have a much nicer Asus P5Q-E P45 for ocing.

This board was much more expensive though. Probably not worth what I paid, but this board is everything I can want from 775. It works with just about any CPU for the socket too. Right now I'm running it with a pentium 4 630 and gtx970 for some "fun".

I would still like to have the P5Q Deluxe, which is essentially this board but with a couple of extra bells and whistles, including a 16 phase vrm.

I have an original Striker Exteme that won't post and Asus P5N-T that has a dead shorted vrm that I don't feel like trying to fix, as well.

 

[framebuffer]

A friend of mine just sent me this

This was my setup in 2005 (Sept. 26th, 2005)

It was from the period I started getting interested also in Apple stuff, as you can see from the amazing G5 DP 2.0GHz and the ACD 20"
The specs of the PC should be : Q6600 @4.0GHz + 2x 7800GT (SLI) and a lot of FANs as you can guess based on the FAN controllers
Unfortunately in 2011, due to a tragic backup mistake ( ), I lost most of my "computer related data", including pictures, screenshots and oc results, so when I saw this coming back from the oblivion I had all sorts of memories related to the period, my God I was 20yo

I have no memories regarding that VAIO, I think I used it just at school for programming/studying and notes taking (did not last too long I guess)

 

[QuietBob]

I was really impressed by his level of knowledge and asked him if he'd like to do some work for me sorting through systems & electronics we take in from off-lease purchasing and e-waste recycling. He was excited. Had him show me what he could do for an hour or so with some of the stuff we'd taken in. He's handy with a soldering iron as well! Called his mom to verify he was at least 14(minimum working age for minors here). She had no idea he was selling his computer to help her with the car. She was even happier to hear that I was willing to give him work a couple days a week after school. I told him that he could work for inventory as well so he could put together a newer system for himself soon.

Great story Lex, you did well to let the kid rummage in your shop! It's so rare these days to see youngsters interested in old tech.

The specs of the PC should be : Q6600 @4.0GHz + 2x 7800GT (SLI) and a lot of FANs as you can guess based on the FAN controllers

I bet that wallpaper had a lot of fans too

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Going to order either a Radeon R7-250 or a GTX750, the newest low-profile GPUs that can both fit into this system AND have XP drivers.

Very nice story! Glad you were able to help one another out.

Have you considered a Radeon R5 240? Can pick them up for pennies. Honestly for XP I don't know that a q9400 or q9550 would see any benefit over the E8400, as the clockspeed is lower. I have used both interchangeably in my XP system and they do the job just about as well. (my XP system is overkill in every regard)

 

[lexluthermiester]

Great story Lex, you did well to let the kid rummage in your shop! It's so rare these days to see youngsters interested in old tech.

Actually it was more than just rummaging. Today was his first day working for me. He's really very good sorting through & fixing things up. I had one of the full time guys double check his work. He only missed one thing the whole day and it was something easily missed(BIOS setting). He got through a half palette of stuff today so I think this will be a very mutually beneficial thing. He elected to accept inventory for today's work. I let him have an Optiplex 3050 with an i5-7500, 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD and a GTX560/2GB, which he put together himself. Certainly better than what he brought in earlier this week, but he earned it. He put in 11hours of work and I'm paying him $14ph. My employees get used equipment at cost so he had just enough to cover it. His mom said he can only work afternoons and Saturdays.

Have you considered a Radeon R5 240?

I did until I looked at the performance differences, the 250 is much better and not much more expensive($40 shipped currently). However, I'm leaning toward a Geforce 750ti because it is the best low-profile GPU that has XP support. I don't mind the extra cost. The problem is finding one in a single slot design... So the R7-250 might end up being the choice if I can't find a 750ti soon.

Honestly for XP I don't know that a q9400 or q9550 would see any benefit over the E8400

For what I'm going to be running, the extra cores will more than out-weigh the loss of 166mhz per core. However, I'm also giving serious consideration to a Xeon X5460 that's been premodded.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

For what I'm going to be running, the extra cores will more than out-weigh the loss of 166mhz per core. However, I'm also giving serious consideration to a Xeon X5460 that's been premodded.

771 mods are pretty great, though I nearly wrecked some pins modding the socket. An X5450 still runs my fileserver. Will the patient accept a Xeon without microcode injection?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Will the patient accept a Xeon without microcode injection?

That's what I'm wondering. Went over to the Xeon thread to ask for input.. Standard DIY 775 motherboards generally don't need a microcode update, but OEM systems are iffy and I'm not sure it would work.

 

[Bones]

Yeah - I was leaning on it a little with chilled water cooling.
To clarify, the board I used is a DFI SLI-DR.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Yeah - I was leaning on it a little with chilled water cooling.
To clarify, the board I used is a DFI SLI-DR.
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? Who are you talking too?

 

[Bones]

No one in particular, just whomever reads the post.

 

[MarsM4N]

As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!

Had a Commodore64 in my teenage times (well I still have it in the attic somewhere) incl. a 8" drive. One day a buddy told me I could just cut a kerb in the opposite site of the disk, insert it upsite down in the drive, it will write on the back of the disk & in doing so basically "doubling" the disk capacity. Thought he was fooling me into destroying a disk, but it really did work. Mind boggling!

Looked at my box of (full) disks & it felt like I just discovered a gold mine. Had now massive "free" storage space for shared/ripped games from class mates.