TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Radical Vision]

I was talking about back in the day, not today... My point is still there, why if Creative is so good, everyone is looking for Creative cards with Yamaha OPL chips then ? Also is ISA creative cards better then Terratec, Turtle Beach, Gravis and others. Many prefer for best compatibility to use Yamaha ISA cards or ESS Audio drive, since they are way better for DOS then any Creative card above SB 16, as the newer ones above that have no Yamaha OPL 3 chips... Aureal VorteX II have not working drivers above 98, since they were gone by that time.. But for 98 games VorteX II wipes the floor with Creative, tho i find SB Live 5.1 to sound very well...


About GIGAbyte and their lack of features i will leave the pictures to talk, that is even the highest end asus mobo Deluxe, vs not even the highest GIGAbyte model the Pro, not the 7NNXP that had even the DSP module... Hell even the PCB color is WAAY better, not sure with what exactly this asus is better then the GIGAbyte, they were mediocre overclockers both, and both had crappy BIOSes compared to ABIT, EPoX, LanParty... I saw more dead asus boards just like this one, meanwhile the GIGAbyte ones just like this one most were alive.. The GA-BX2000 i use works great ever since i builded the system with Pentium II 450MHz, it still does even today... The replaced AOpen DX34R-U that failed cuz of old caps, i did put GIGAbyte GA-6VXD7, the board works fine, the only thing that pisses me off is that there is no option to skip the memory check and is slow too, aside from that is fine, and it also has option for ISA slot and it has Dual BIOS... For NF2 and 462 my pick is also ABIT, not GIGAbyte. But before or after that i dont like ABIT as much... Their boards always have garbage AF caps, before NF7, and they are unstable too, and need full recap, after that they may be fine, but the GIGAbytes i did try before NF7 work stable without full recap, so guess point there to GIGAbyte over ABIT.. MSI is fine, but they also tend to die more for some reason.. Saw so many dead newer red MSI boards from the AM2 era... Also my tualatin single socket MSI stopped posting for some reason...

 

[MaxiPro800]

Both are mediocre at best.
MSI and ABIT had better results in the 462 era alongside EPoX.
(photos not mine since I don't yet have access to the MSI and ABIT, and the EPoX was sold last year)

As for dual CPU, I'd rather pick a MSI 694D Pro-AR for dual Coppermines. Better layout than 6VXD7 and miles better AWARD BIOS than crap AMI. MSI did a better job than Gigabyte back then.

 

[y2faulty]

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JC this colours... ..."anal bleed pink", "blood puke yellow" and "frosted piss white" ?

 

[Apocalypsee]

I have GIGAbyte G1 Assassin , but its sound card is not found and I can't install the sound drivers Otherwise it works, but I've never tried doing extreme overclock.

That G1 Assassin got full-fledged CA20K2 X-Fi DSP chip on board!

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Purchase of the day.

 

[Radical Vision]

Both are mediocre at best.
MSI and ABIT had better results in the 462 era alongside EPoX.
(photos not mine since I don't yet have access to the MSI and ABIT, and the EPoX was sold last year)

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As for dual CPU, I'd rather pick a MSI 694D Pro-AR for dual Coppermines. Better layout than 6VXD7 and miles better AWARD BIOS than crap AMI. MSI did a better job than Gigabyte back then.

Fine but my main point was to trash talk asus, since they are crap, not making this GIGAbyte vs all.... Is why i said that many praise asus, but for what exactly, as the GIGAbyte board not only look better, but it also has shht load of features... Speaking about features Dual BIOS, IDE Raid, 4 RAM slots it beats the rest, since it has many things on it... What does the asus has then, as my main point was to asus vs GIGAbyte both, as asus is overated AF.... The NF7-S V2 in terms of build quality and OC stability easly beats everything else. But back then the orange V2 NF7 boards were made after the DFI LanParty guy Oskar Wu did left ABIT, so the BIOS of the orange NF7 was CRAP, and there was many mods after that. At the time the LanPArty reigned supreme in OC, as the ABIT BIOS was just as bad as the GIGAbyte one, only year later modders made the NF7 V2 to be on par with LanParty, but stock ones the NF7 was straight bad. Not to talk much crap about that mobo, since NF7 V2 is my favorite one, is rock solid, but in terms of features nothing beats GIGAbyte, they have just way too much build into them... Also Dual BIOS is a saver, since both NF7 and mostly LanParty NF2 did corrupt their bioses all the time it was real bad, ppl did even had 2 spare bios chips, in order to replace them, when they fk up, that could not happen with Dual BIOS... EPoX is fine, for cheap brand they were insane did really enjoy their magic bios health post screen, also their BIOS picture logos too... This MSI is fine, but is not the high end model, the Platinum with the MSI Core CELL is the real deal... I had x4 NF7 V2, sold my second one, cuz i got good amount for it, also i never liked that one, had some crap scars from previous owners, and i like only factory parts without the B$ of previous owners.. The rest NF7 i still have them but 2 of them are dead, guess someone did extreme OC on them and FKed them up... Mine is running well ever since 2014 when i got it, rock solid never did any problems, not like one asus Deluxe that did just die one day not even spinning the fans... Look at the AOpen AK79G Tube, black PCB, tube audio, Universal AGP slot, Dual BIOS that mobo is amazing, and with mobile barton even asus can OC....

Also many praise ASUS P2B, but i find that GIGAbyte BX2000 to be better with its Dual BIOS and 4 RAM slots.. Similar story to BX2000+ also having better PCB color too, dont know what does the P3B-F has better, maybe the BIOS to be more advanced for OC...



That MSI lacks Dual BIOS, Creative integrated audio, and most importantly ISA slot (well mine also lack the ISA, but it has the option for soldering ones...) it may be better, but my exp. usually shows me that MSI dies alot more then GIGAbyte, asus even more, so i dont trust MSI as much as GIGAbyte...

JC this colours... ..."anal bleed pink", "blood puke yellow" and "frosted piss white" ?

So you want to tell me that the shit asus PCB color is better hahah yeah sure... Many of us will kill for the frosted piss ABIT Casper or pink AOpen Barbie edition, as they are rare AF, and they open open the doors for insane colored builds.. But you can use the "premium" SHIT asus with the premium price tag instead, and give me thouse pink and white mobos, so i can enjoy their glory....

 

[r.h.p]

Huh so you want to tell me that Creative did beat Gravis, Turtle Beach, Terratec, Miro Yamaha, Aureal i really doubt that... In terms of sound quality these brands was on par, and some cards like Gravis, Terratec and Turtle Beach had even superior one... When it comes to games, no one like much Creative, as everyone is looking for Yamaha OPL chips even on the Creative cards... ANd for later games on Win 98, Aureal VorteX II did wipe the floor with what Creative had... Tho Creative is still alive these days, and the rest are not maybe only Terratec is...

Bro ... i can tell u know your stuff but were i come from in the 90's we didn't have those brands Except Creative and maybe Yamaha? at our local pc store. I think some Sound Card brands you could get from a HiFi store maybe, can't remember. Back on track, a Creative Sound Blaster always did the job for sound imo. It was just cool to see a ... what i think is a 94 model Creative card ? Frack me our first family 386dx2 pc didn't even have sound card or Mouse!! Dont even think about windows it was straight up DOS

 

[starred86]

That G1 Assassin got full-fledged CA20K2 X-Fi DSP chip on board!

Yes, that's right, but when I start installing the drivers, it tells me that no such hardware has been detected. I've tried different versions only under Windows 7 32bit. I haven't tried updating the motherboard. I wonder if there's a jumper. I have no idea, but it's not nice. If I put in an external sound card, it will prevent 3x SLI or Crossfire mode. I'll have to use a sound card via USB.

 

[MaxiPro800]

That MSI lacks Dual BIOS, Creative integrated audio, and most importantly ISA slot (well mine also lack the ISA, but it has the option for soldering ones...) it may be better, but my exp. usually shows me that MSI dies alot more then GIGAbyte, asus even more, so i dont trust MSI as much as GIGAbyte...

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The MSI 694D Pro-AR still beats that Gigabyte. Dual BIOS and Creative sound mean nothing (especislly since that Creative is a crappy ES1373 chip), the only true advantage being the ISA slot. It sucks in all other aspects.

Same goes for BX-2000, it gets beaten to a pulp by all of ABIT's BX lineage six ways to sunday. BE6-II, BX133-RAID, BM6, BH6, BX6R2, and the legend that is BP6.

Sorry to say but Gigabyte sucked ass up until late in the 775 era IMO. ASUS wasn't any better past Socket 370 either. That leaves only MSI, Soyo, ABIT, EPoX, FIC, DFI and Chaintech as true choices.

 

[Ahhzz]

I've got a few older boards I'm clearing out, one way or another. Posted up the first couple in BST

 

[Radical Vision]

The MSI 694D Pro-AR still beats that Gigabyte. Dual BIOS and Creative sound mean nothing (especislly since that Creative is a crappy ES1373 chip), the only true advantage being the ISA slot. It sucks in all other aspects.

Same goes for BX-2000, it gets beaten to a pulp by all of ABIT's BX lineage six ways to sunday. BE6-II, BX133-RAID, BM6, BH6, BX6R2, and the legend that is BP6.

Sorry to say but Gigabyte sucked ass up until late in the 775 era IMO. ASUS wasn't any better past Socket 370 either. That leaves only MSI, Soyo, ABIT, EPoX, FIC, DFI and Chaintech as true choices.

Beats it in what benchmarks or what.. I dont care about benchmarks, but build quality and brands that usually survive the test of time... And GIGAbyte is more durable then asus, and usually offers stuff such as Dual BIOS that no one else has aside from some AOpen boards... 694D Pro-AR will prob stop posting at some point have happened with MSI mobos i have, but guess what did not happen to GIGAbyte... ABIT is great brand, but the BH6, BE6 ect, all have garbage af caps and need recap... Meanwhile my beaten to pulp BX2000 "it just works" since 2014 and uses quality SaNyo caps and still run fine "trust me bro" guarantee... Meanwhile i had at least 6 ABIT mobos BE6, BE6 - II, all of them did have blown up caps, or did go bad after not much time... Ofc you will say that everyone newds to REcap their vintage parts, sure i agree, but not everyone have the knowledge, the time or motivation to learn how to recap 1000000 boards and video cards.... I only say that GIGAbyte >>>>>>>> ASUS, but GIGAbyte also has advantages over ABIT and others like being more stable cuz of capacitors and Dual BIOS... I had ABIT BP6 sold it, sadly for not much money, ubstable board it was stated even in the Anadtech review... Meanwhilefor me AOpen DX34R-U >>>>>>>>>>>> ABIT BP6...But since the AOpen dont have ISA but native Tualatin support i will ignore it... So with what exactly is the BP6 better then the GA-6VXD7 ? My guess would be OC since is ABIT we are talking about... Ok and what do you think your OCed BP6 with the celerons will last longer in time or my GA-6VXD7 running at stock speeds...

GIGAbyte sucked a$$ till 775, but in what exactly OC only or ? Sure i also prefer ABIT the orange models i really look for the AN8 Fatal1ty, is board i prefer over GIGAbyte, or the MSI NEO NF3 Patinum cuz of the AGP slot and PCB color.... But i think too many ppl shit too much on GIGAbyte, and praise ASUS, while giga is way better most of the time.

SOYO is interesring brand, they hated nGreedia, as they dont have nForce boards. But aside from the SOYO KT600 Dragon Platinum i dont see much interesting models, maybe some 486 ones... Chaintech well i see them shine with some colors the Zenith 462 board did look very nice... Soltek is very interesting, as they made very crazy colored boards, but so did AOpen at times... Anyway as i said before my main brands i collect are ABIT and AOpen, but also GIGAbyte as they are reliable and problem free in terms of posting and working... Dont know whar exactly makes pre LanParty DFI boards any good then GIGAbyte and FIC lol i consider FIC crap class such as QDI, ECS, Zida ect dog brands...

 

[MaxiPro800]

Everything else is crap on Gigabyte pre-775. Caps, build quality, BIOS. Had more dead Gigashit than MSI alone or any other brands. They suck in all other aspects and DualBIOS ain't a saving feature, nor a Creative soundchip is.

ASUS falls in that category too, except Socket 370 and older. Don't think that ASUS made any good boards back then or today. Their fame stopped at 370, and the P3B-F doesn't seem to be such a king either.

I have several MSIs (6163 v1,2, 6168 with onboard Voodoo3, 815EM Pro that puts a TUSL2 to shame, 6340 with KT133, 694D Pro-AR that is only rivaled by VP6 quality wise) and all still work today, original caps.

AOpen isn't anything good either, they're locked down enough because of Acer's stupid brains. In fact I wouldn't place AOpen any better than ECS, especially with their LELON crap, which stung them as bad as ABIT back then.

Simply put, Gigabyte, Shuttle, AOpen, ECS, ASUS/ASRock = shit, DFI, ABIT, Soyo, Soltek, EPoX, MSI = good, FIC and QDI fall in the middle, not bad but not the best either. LuckyStar is also good since MSI was the one who manufactured their boards.

 

[stinger608]

Purchase of the day.

What socket and CPU bro?

I've got a Packard Bell system that looks almost exactly the same. It's running a socket 7 with a Pentium overdrive. I have Windows 3.11 for workgroups on it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Purchase of the day.

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Oops.. looks like you beat me over here.. Welcome!!

What socket and CPU bro?

I've got a Packard Bell system that looks almost exactly the same. It's running a socket 7 with a Pentium overdrive. I have Windows 3.11 for workgroups on it.

Very likely Socket7 PreMMX. Lots of good retro potential there.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

What socket and CPU bro?

I've got a Packard Bell system that looks almost exactly the same. It's running a socket 7 with a Pentium overdrive. I have Windows 3.11 for workgroups on it.

Socket 7 I believe running a 90 mhz Pentium. Also it originally had win95 on it. I am thinking I want to have it back to factory with the factory software

 

[lexluthermiester]

Socket 7 I believe running a 90 mhz Pentium. Also it originally had win95 on it. I am thinking I want to have it back to factory with the factory software

That system was fair easy to upgrade. You can get a P-133 or P-166, a PCI video card for it and an ISA SoundBlaster16, AWE32/AWE64. As much as people panned PackardBell, they made solid budget systems that were very expandable.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

That system was fair easy to upgrade. You can get a P-133 or P-166, a PCI video card for it and an ISA SoundBlaster16, AWE32/AWE64. As much as people panned PackardBell, they made solid budget systems that were very expandable.

I actually have a pci videos card in one of my boxes and also a in a sealed box sb16 but it's pci and I don't want to open it lol. I do have a few Aureal vortex 1 and 2 cards I can put in it if I decide to upgrade it. For now I am thinking of making it factory correct with the OEM software if I can get my hands on the og disks.

 

[wolf]

Experimenting with display ideas.

 

[Shou Miko]

Experimenting with display ideas.

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Does the batter half agree with this? I am curious to know

I have never seen a Gigabyte X650I AX but I know there is a Gigabyte B650I AX but I could be wrong

 

[wolf]

Does the batter half agree with this? I am curious to know

yes and no I get to be me I suppose that's something

I have never seen a Gigabyte X650I AX but I know there is a Gigabyte B650I AX but I could be wrong

First to correct that with it displayed for a month or two now, good pickup - edited.

 

[Radical Vision]

Everything else is crap on Gigabyte pre-775. Caps, build quality, BIOS. Had more dead Gigashit than MSI alone or any other brands. They suck in all other aspects and DualBIOS ain't a saving feature, nor a Creative soundchip is.

ASUS falls in that category too, except Socket 370 and older. Don't think that ASUS made any good boards back then or today. Their fame stopped at 370, and the P3B-F doesn't seem to be such a king either.

I have several MSIs (6163 v1,2, 6168 with onboard Voodoo3, 815EM Pro that puts a TUSL2 to shame, 6340 with KT133, 694D Pro-AR that is only rivaled by VP6 quality wise) and all still work today, original caps.

AOpen isn't anything good either, they're locked down enough because of Acer's stupid brains. In fact I wouldn't place AOpen any better than ECS, especially with their LELON crap, which stung them as bad as ABIT back then.

Simply put, Gigabyte, Shuttle, AOpen, ECS, ASUS/ASRock = shit, DFI, ABIT, Soyo, Soltek, EPoX, MSI = good, FIC and QDI fall in the middle, not bad but not the best either. LuckyStar is also good since MSI was the one who manufactured their boards.

Huh my AOpen DX34R-U did survive such crap that most MSI, GIGAbyte and ASUS would die from, so nah AOpen is very well build, is why that is my favorite mobo brand same with ABIT, no matter the pre orange NF7 ABITs use the biggest garbage caps... MSI is fine i like them, but i dont have much much faith in them in terms of staying alive..... In my experience the most dead boards are from ASUS so i did just blacklist them, keeping only few models such as the slot a K7M or A7M266-D (tho i wanted the MSI one) or P3B-F.. Next one after ASUS is MSI, then GIGAbyte, i dont think the old GIGAbyte boards are as bad as you describe them... And ASUS they feel premium at least pre Pentium 4 models, i still dont like them, as they also tend to die... Have ASUS CUSL2-C that was working fine, and few years later no post anymore from just storage... I dont like A$$rock and EliteGroup, but they just dont die, is why i use ECS as test boards, as they seem to be very durable for some strange reason, but also they dont have any value, so if one dies, i will just replace it... For me the holy trio is ABIT, AOpen and GIGAbyte, their boards "it just work" ... My AOpen DX34R-U did not only work stable no matter it had dried up caps to the point that it did need 5 min in order to post, then was stable till it ress in a hour or something, after full recap it does not do this kind of crap. Also did have naked PCB traces from previous owner morons. Also had blown up replaced mosfet also one blown up pin in the second DIMM slot from some idiot placing SDram the wrong way, also the previous owner was heavy smoker, as the whole mobo was like duck tape very disgusting. When i did wash it the first time the droplets/ water from it was brown....

So you can talk crap about AOpen all day long, here are the facts that board still works after taking all that crap, and even after full recap still works fine, meanwhile ASUS boards die even if you look them the wrong way, and the GIGAbyte mobos i use just work reliable and rock solid... Also i have MSI Pro Ver:5 (MS-6337), from the same guy that had the AOpen DX34R-U, guess what that board was working, but started to stop posting, now does not post at all, ALSO had full recap, so much about MSI >>>> AOpen, but not in my books... If i could get my hands on plentful of AOpen mobos i would do that, sadly they are very rare... Tho i saw x2 times AOpen 478 tube sound, but the first was costly $, and loong time ago when i did not care about socket 478, the second one was from scrapper looking like crap, and on bidding too, so i was like fk this crap.... In terms of build quality Intel desktop boards do beat the rest, but old asus ones, GIGAbyte, AOpen are about the same build quality...

Experimenting with display ideas.

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Earthquakes and cats liked this post.... Also why bother to display all the cards, except GF 256 and the 3Dfx Banshee i wonder ?!?!?
Some ppl do pin them to the wall, that idea is also nice + earthquake proof, cat proof ect...


Well holy mother of IBM................... Finally to get my hands on IBM Model F, but not any Model F but F122 battleship, these Fkers weight like 4 kilos or maybe even 5 not sure insane... Also did not expect to see original IBM box, insane quality even on the box... These appear to be from terminals, so active adapters will be needed i see one is 50$, costly, but better the not to have any i guess.... The guy said he there is also brand new boxed IBM CRT jeez, too bad CRTs are so annoying, heavy, taking much space ect, but i will prob get the monitor too... The guy said he are trying to make a buck and also save these relics from going to the scrap, as the business he works for will scrap all the things when the summer comes, and that would be tragedy, as IBM stuff never deserve that fate... He said that in the past many IBM 5051 XTs did go to the scrap, kinda sad about that, but there are so many facilities where he is, so there prob at least one or two IBM XTs waiting... There is NorthGate Omnikey keyboard he said, when i did send him pictures, but not sure where will be great for him to find it, as i want to try out premium ALPS board, as far as i heard they are on the same level of quality as IBM...

One IBM PS/2 Type 8557, in pristine condition, how lovely..... Also one IBM mice..



There is also GIGAbyte GEforce 2 Pro finally to get something more interesting then crappy GF II MX 200/ 400, not Ultra as i would want, but still far better then MX... Also some new Trident EGA/ VGA ISA cards... Epson printer module made in Japan, when you grab that module you can tell the quality, same with the IBM mainframe emulator card...

 

[MaxiPro800]

Had enough Gigabyte die on me. Recent is a 7N400, along with a 7VA. Both stopped posting exactly like your MSI did. So no, I wouldn't trust Gigabyte at all. Their older boards had even worse crapcaps than MSI - to the point most were already spilling. Meanwhile most of my MSIs still tank on better than ever.

So MSI>>>>GB, by a long mile. The top 3 is ABIT>>>MSI>>>AOpen (some of their boards started to use Panasonic so I can give them some slack on that). GB is in the garbage tier with ASUS.

Also that GF2 Pro looks awful. Won't compare with the Creative I'll get, or the recent Palit GF3 Ti200 I got. And ew, Ascend RAM.

 

[Radical Vision]

Why i have a feeling that crap with "stopped posting" will eventually happen to most motherboards, GPUs ect... Maybe only the Intel OEM boards and the IBM stuff will hold only lol... One 7N400 did stop posting after recapping the garbage KZG caps, but there is always risk when recapping, it can make a short in the layers of the board or something... The latest crap was MSI MS-5169 AL9 i got for resale/ trades, the shit wont post i think it did not even power on lmao... Meanwhile the GIGAbyte GA-5AX "it just works" when i got it and now too....

That creative GEforce u got there is creative only by labels, MSI produce these, as i have GEforce III cards one creative and one MSI, both have the MS stamps on them, fine build quality i will say, but not better then stuff like Leadtek. Well to me that GIGAbyte GF II Pro looks fine good quality, not less then the GEforce III made by MSI.... Chaintech GEforce III Ti200 beat up about every other GF III card out there is so heavy it is insane... I may hate asus, but that deluxe card for sure feels premium...

 

[lexluthermiester]

Gigashit

Can we please stop with this kind of thing? There's nothing wrong with expressing ones frustrations, but do we really need to do it with the name-calling?

 

[MaxiPro800]

Why i have a feeling that crap with "stopped posting" will eventually happen to most motherboards, GPUs ect... Maybe only the Intel OEM boards and the IBM stuff will hold only lol... One 7N400 did stop posting after recapping the garbage KZG caps, but there is always risk when recapping, it can make a short in the layers of the board or something... The latest crap was MSI MS-5169 AL9 i got for resale/ trades, the shit wont post i think it did not even power on lmao... Meanwhile the GIGAbyte GA-5AX "it just works" when i got it and now too....

That creative GEforce u got there is creative only by labels, MSI produce these, as i have GEforce III cards one creative and one MSI, both have the MS stamps on them, fine build quality i will say, but not better then stuff like Leadtek. Well to me that GIGAbyte GF II Pro looks fine good quality, not less then the GEforce III made by MSI.... Chaintech GEforce III Ti200 beat up about every other GF III card out there is so heavy it is insane... I may hate asus, but that deluxe card for sure feels premium...

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Uh huh. Original Rubycon caps on both boards that stopped working. Meanwhile MSI and ABIT chug along like nothing happened. Stripped the 7VA of caps and the 7N400 might be next.

Intel Desktop Boards aren't much worth. Solid as hell build quality but their BIOS is so locked down it makes anything else look like OC equipment. Good if you don't mind millitary-grade locked down BIOS, bad if you want to do as much as a tiny OC (e.g switching the FSB - not many Intel Desktop boards I've had even allowed that.). IBM is even more cruel in that regard, allowing you to only change a bunch of options.

For sales I always go to older ASUS (370 and pre-370) standard boards, Soltek and maybe EPoX. Gigabyte gets destroyed no matter what, I've had a lot of returns of those from how crap they were. Old and new, all were crap enough to lock up at any time, or just crash and burn. Meanwhile, none of the others (Soltek, EPoX, older ASUS (newer ones were just as awful), some MSI as well but I usually keep them along with ABIT) ever got any complaints.