TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[DR4G00N]

Right, but you're missing a point... Suppose dust (or other particles) find their way between the CPU and mobo contacts, it would insulate the contact(s) from touching one another, which translates to non-working system. Especially if (and when) you decide to upgrade the CPU or change it for whatever the reason. All the gunk would fall into the pin holes (assuming you're using AMD platform, which uses old-fashioned design and not the inverted one like Intel) Sooo yeah, not worth the risk, but that's just my, personal opinion.

There is also a huge risk of shorting something if and when metal scrapings get trapped inside. And you can find metal scrapings everywhere, either from stripping a screw threads, mounting the hard drive into the 3.5" bay, etc. IDK, it just seems like a really REALLY bad idea *shrug*

I do see the point you are getting at, though usually when this is done it's to prevent condensation from forming inside the socket which is a much more immediate problem than metal shavings or dirt.

That said, I don't use it anymore since it's a pain to clean up.

 

[MaxiPro800]

I recently got a QDI Advance 10F (P6V694X Rev 2.0/S2.2) mobo,with a Pentium III 1GHz Coppermine CPU (133FSB,256K L2)

I also got a Riva TNT2 M64 for it,32MB. Funny thing - since the card itself lacked the metal plate(dunno why) ,I had to install one from a broken FX5200

 

[dorsetknob]

QDI Advance

Not heard that "BRAND" in along time
IF memory serves me well they were a reasonable Reliable Brand (Budget)
used to have one for my P3 800 Cannot Remember which one it was as its long gone to someone as an S/H Upgrade

 

[Trekkie4]

I actually got (at least) two QDI boards inside my retro systems, in fact I remember posting here two pics side by side & pointing out the differences between two boards which have the same layout (and printed marks), but had been slightly modified in post-production & have different chipsets. If anyone's interested, I might dig it up & re-post.

Speaking of pictures, I was cleaning my hard drive earlier tonight & found over 100 never seen nostalgic pictures from back in a day. LITERALLY from back in a day, taken throughout 2004, 05 and 2006. The only problem is that when I wanted to upload these to PostImage, I found out they're having financial problems & will most likely shut down IDK guys, I'm open to suggestions... I could go back to ImageBam, but some of you here pointed out it's spamming way too much with their ads & popups *shrug*

Edit
PostImage situation resolved, proceeding with image upload

--
Starting with CoolerMaster Musketeer & AeroGate fan speed controller in
Red


Green


And blue color


My old room, as it was back in 2004...


Super Woofer!! Comparing to my latest SP-HF2020, they seem more like a toy really


One of my attempts to make a comic-like art out of Grand Theft Auto game. Since it didn't quite work out the way I was hoping to, I ended up making (and printing) this concept art of GTA3 Kuruma car Love it!


The fastest CD-ROM drive unit I ever owned ... BenQ 56X



My wireless mouse, 1st one I had... Instead of using RF emitter, this one had to be in direct contact through IR beam, just like remote controller works. it's not even optical, it had a ball mechanism like all other (older) models back in a day


When I finally "upgraded" to USB devices, I had use the USB hub since the Asus P4B mobo only had 4 USB outlets...


Just a bunch of old computer cases & desktop speakers. Including one very old (but still functional, at the time) joystick. Don't remember what happened to these, but sorry to say I no longer have any of these


My old Sony Ericsson T630 phone, next to MP3 player Both sitting on top of the VHS tape ... you can't get any more nostalgic than that!!


Previously mentioned T630 phone, in the original box... No longer have this one either, I sold it & bought the new model, K700i which I still have today. No longer in service obviously, and it has a dead battery, but looks good as new! Still have the original box, too!


My old Asus P4B system, 1st attempt at PC modding & upgrading on my own without any help. Yes, I know ... that cable management was a total mess!


More details of Asus P4B (Pentium 4, S423) build...





Some of the random PCI cards, including Hauppauge TV Tuner which I still have today (and is inside one of the retro systems I've made) AGP card is nVidia FX5600, the upgrade from Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead


Some random power supplies...


Along with this trusty Pentium 2 system, which I still have today but (sadly) no longer in the original case Also, note the Voodoo2 card inside it, it was a 12mb Diamond card which worked perfectly fine, but since it was seriously outpowered & old (yet NOT nostalgic at the time), I gave it away for free



Not computer related, but those of you who love vinyl records might recognize this cartridge as Shure M94e, one of the better, yet cheaper models out there!


1st DVD-RW drive I ever had... I've been using it for maybe 3 or 4 days before one of my older CDs blew up & caused terminal damage to the internal components. I went back to the store & asked for refund, but they gave me this other LG DVD-RW drive instead. This one worked for a while longer, several months before it stopped working altogether so I went back AGAIN & they gave me black Philips DVD unit which worked OK for years. Both Nero & PowerDVD came with the retail version of BTC drive, LG was a bulk without any accessories or utilities.



3 CD-ROM units... BenQ, Compaq and BTC At the time, all 3 were fully functional


Epson Stylus Color 580, by the time it was taken out of service & got replaced with HP All-in-one 2355


HP AIO 2355....


Servicing Saba HiFi tape deck...

 

[biffzinker]

Thanks again for the lengthy post @Trekkie4. Spent some time clicking through your older photo's.

Yes, I know ... that cable management was a total mess!

It's definitely not the prettiest to look at but eh, it could of been a lot worst than it is.

 

[Trekkie4]

More pics...

Exposing my 1st hard drive, after I bought the refurbished unit which then failed within 3 or 4 days I believe it was a 20GB drive, not sure...


More pics (and details) of T630 phone


An old CD-ROM drive... Don't remember which one and why I took the pic(s)


Making a brand new system out of old parts for someone I knew. And yeah, apparently the mobo had bulged caps, but I didn't notice that back in a day. But this thing is now long gone, even the owner is no longer among the living, so it's too late to fix anything


That GeCube ATI Radeon card was one of the few brand new components inside


More random parts...


And last but not least, one of the silliest & ineffective CPU coolers in existence - Thermaltake BlueOrb FX (S775, Pentium 4, 3.00GHz) I've been using it for at least two years before the motor seized up, resulting with complete meltdown & emergency shut down by the motherboard


Edit
@biffzinker Heh, thanks I had to start somewhere, right? I believe that was my very 1st attempt at (re)building a PC from scratch!

 

[biffzinker]

More pics...

Exposing my 1st hard drive, after I bought the refurbished unit which then failed within 3 or 4 days I believe it was a 20GB drive, not sure...

I remember tearing apart a Maxtor 15 GB EIDE HDD that started getting flaky on me, first time opening a HDD.

 

[Trekkie4]

Yeah, these things (Maxtor drives) were failing all the time... I had a 40GB drive from 2001 which also failed within a year or so. Unfortunately the store went bankrupt during this time, so I couldn't ask for new one Re-branded Quantum drives on the other hand were OK, Quantum always produced high quality products. In fact, I still have several Fireballs (various capacities) and they all work without any bad sectors.

 

[Recon-UK]

 

[Bones]

Thinking about setting up a retro system for a few games I have.
Already have one that I could use as is but would probrably do a different setup to get the max performance possible, this would most likely be based on a Socket A setup. As for the games, here's one I've had since new and it's never really been played at all.







The disks themselves are in nearly pristine condition, the only disk that's ever been used at all was the first disk and even it hasn't seen hardly any use at all since new.

I have others but this one stands out from the rest as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Trekkie4]

I remember trying out Starfleet Academy at some point, was fascinated with in-game movies & video quality, I also vaguely remember choosing the starship class - Miranda, Constitution and 3rd one, don't really remember which one exactly. But as far as the actual gameplay goes, the game was pretty complicated & not so impressive, so I quickly gave up, myself. Never played another ST game since then, even though I consider myself to be hardcore Trekkie who watched EVERY single episode from TNG to Enterprise and all 10 movies.

Yes, ONLY the 10 Trek movies because I don't acknowledge Abrams Trek as genuine Star Trek material

 

[Bones]

The SFC series was good, esp "Empires at War" and "Orion Pirates"
Got the third installment of it too and it was pretty good, although different than the earlier ones.

However the one that stands out would be "Bridge Commander", have that title as well here. You won't play the third installment or BC on a Socket A, you'd need at least a good Socket 939 with a decent GPU to play those with.

If you can find a copy of Bridge Commander grab it - It's well worth the trouble to get.

EDIT: Believe I fould a site where you can download it.
Star Trek: Bridge Commander Download (2002 Simulation Game)

 

[MaxiPro800]

More random parts...

I spy a Deer PSU in there...
(hint - it's the shiny one on the bottom. Is it branded MLN,or are my eyes fooling me?)

Speaking of which, I actually just got one from upgrading a friend's PC (along with an ASUS A7V600-X, a 40GB Samsung SP0411N IDE drive, a Hitachi-LG GCE-8481B drive and 256MB of RAM). Mine seems to be branded "PREMIER" and the model seems to be LC-B400ATX though.

Anyways, here's a list of my PSUs:

PSU:
Allied AL-A400ATX (in use in my main PC, had to replace the 12v rectifier with a 20A one)
Premier DR-B300ATX
Delux ATX-400W P4/LP-7700A (Leadman OEM)
Premier LC-B400ATX (listed above)
Modecom Feel III 400ATX/LC-8460BTX (Deer OEM)

 

[Trekkie4]

I spy a Deer PSU in there...
(hint - it's the shiny one on the bottom. Is it branded MLN,or are my eyes fooling me?)

Speaking of which, I actually just got one from upgrading a friend's PC (along with an ASUS A7V600-X, a 40GB Samsung SP0411N IDE drive, a Hitachi-LG GCE-8481B drive and 256MB of RAM). Mine seems to be branded "PREMIER" and the model seems to be LC-B400ATX though.

Anyways, here's a list of my PSUs:

PSU:
Allied AL-A400ATX (in use in my main PC, had to replace the 12v rectifier with a 20A one)
Premier DR-B300ATX
Delux ATX-400W P4/LP-7700A (Leadman OEM)
Premier LC-B400ATX (listed above)
Modecom Feel III 400ATX/LC-8460BTX (Deer OEM)

Never had a "Deer" branded PSU from what I remember, but yes I DID have several "MLN" branded ones, probably including the one from the pic above Saying probably because that pic was taken over 10yrs ago, so I obviously don't remember...

Speaking of which, I'm not sure but I SHOULD have one or two MLN PSU units inside my old gaming rigs. Those were extremely cheap back in a day, think they even included them with those flimsy & cheap-looking computer cases.

Edit
Looking at my own pic, think I remember... What you see are:

Silver Samsung 1.44Floppy drive (still have it, in fact it's inside that system which had a PSU failure not so long ago)

BTC CD-ROM 36X (Sorry to say, no longer have it. It was a great piece of engineering and also holds a special, sentimental value for me, being the original CD drive on my Pentium 2 machine, from 1998.)

Codegen 300W (still have this one actually, but it's been re-wired & converted into dummy PSU, for testing the fans, CD drives & hard drives)

MLN 180W, I think. But it was one of those units which had "Real wattage" label, claiming that 180W is the actual & accurate load capacity

 

[MaxiPro800]

Never had a "Deer" branded PSU from what I remember, but yes I DID have several "MLN" branded ones, probably including the one from the pic above Saying probably because that pic was taken over 10yrs ago, so I obviously don't remember...

Speaking of which, I'm not sure but I SHOULD have one or two MLN PSU units inside my old gaming rigs. Those were extremely cheap back in a day, think they even included them with those flimsy & cheap-looking computer cases.

Edit
Looking at my own pic, think I remember... What you see are:

Silver Samsung 1.44Floppy drive (still have it, in fact it's inside that system which had a PSU failure not so long ago)

BTC CD-ROM 36X (Sorry to say, no longer have it. It was a great piece of engineering and also holds a special, sentimental value for me, being the original CD drive on my Pentium 2 machine, from 1998.)

Codegen 300W (still have this one actually, but it's been re-wired & converted into dummy PSU, for testing the fans, CD drives & hard drives)

MLN 180W, I think. But it was one of those units which had "Real wattage" label, claiming that 180W is the actual & accurate load capacity

Yeah...

That MLN is actually built by Deer/L&C. Pretty weird to see them labeled with a real wattage label. Do you still have one? And if so,can you take a few pictures of it?

Codegen isn't something unfamiliar to me - I remember having 2 of these - a 350W "200XA" model,and a true 300W 300X model. The former was scrapped,and as far as I remember I sent the other one to my father, because his old AIO PC (Clevo L295U,865GV based) had its PSU die (a Hipro,quite frankly) and he needed a PSU.

 

[Trekkie4]

Don't remember if the actual PSU had a "Real Wattage" label or not, but I certainly remember being sold under that name, "Beige ATX tower with true (real) 180W PSU" It was sitting on top of my shelf for years before I eventually got serious & started making more gaming rigs, so the MLN unit ended up inside my very own, personal Pentium 2 from back in a day. The Adison branded one, it was mentioned throughout this topic several times, look it up if you'd like to know more details

But overall, it's really just a cheap & generic PSU... In fact, I think it blew up some of the caps on my Chaintech 6BTM motherboard because just as I decided to take Adison machine out of service I've noticed several bulging caps, around the voltage regulators Keep planning to replace them, but just can't seem to find the time & patience Ironically though, Adison system originally came with previously mentioned Codegen PSU, 200W

And I'd be more than willing to take couple of pics, but it'll have to wait I'm afraid. I'm in the middle of repairs at the moment, moisture found its way through the wall into the room, causing mold & other crap so now I'm waiting for the repair crew to dig through the brick (and concrete) wall, in order to fix it

 

[MaxiPro800]

And I'd be more than willing to take couple of pics, but it'll have to wait I'm afraid. I'm in the middle of repairs at the moment, moisture found its way through the wall into the room, causing mold & other crap so now I'm waiting for the repair crew to dig through the brick (and concrete) wall, in order to fix it

Not a problem, I can wait

 

[Trekkie4]

Question guys, what are your thoughts on HP Visualize (P-Class) systems, running Pentium 3 @1.00GHz and ATI Fire GL2 AGP card, is it worth the time and patience?

Never had a professional workstation before, this seems like a top-grade retro 3D/gaming machine IMHO

 

[Random Murderer]

Question guys, what are your thoughts on HP Visualize (P-Class) systems, running Pentium 3 @1.00GHz and ATI Fire GL2 AGP card, is it worth the time and patience?

Never had a professional workstation before, this seems like a top-grade retro 3D/gaming machine IMHO

Depends on the AGP revision, especially if it's AGP-Pro or not. Avoid AGP-Pro if you would ever consider swapping the GPU.

 

[MaxiPro800]

Depends on the AGP revision, especially if it's AGP-Pro or not. Avoid AGP-Pro if you would ever consider swapping the GPU.

Isn't AGP-Pro just universal 8x?

 

[Trekkie4]

Depends on the AGP revision, especially if it's AGP-Pro or not. Avoid AGP-Pro if you would ever consider swapping the GPU.

Why would you say that, isn't it possible to replace "Pro" card with standard AGP, if necessary? Although I don't think it is, but then again I didn't see the system with my own eyes, so everything's possible at this point.

Isn't AGP-Pro just universal 8x?

No, AGP and AGP Pro are two different interfaces. "Pro" has additional pins, and therefore requires special (AGP PRO) compatible slot, where the AGP Pro compatible motherboard works with both AGP and AGP Pro cards. My Asus A7A266 system is a perfect example!

 

[Random Murderer]

Isn't AGP-Pro just universal 8x?

No, it's like PCI-X was to PCI, it's physically a longer slot and has more connections. It was made for workstation graphics cards, provided more current through the slot than regular AGP, and is extremely finicky about drivers and voltages. While it is possible to get a standard AGP card working in a Pro slot, in my experience, it's just not worth the hassle.

 

[MaxiPro800]

No, it's like PCI-X was to PCI, it's physically a longer slot and has more connections. It was made for workstation graphics cards, provided more current through the slot than regular AGP, and is extremely finicky about drivers and voltages. While it is possible to get a standard AGP card working in a Pro slot, in my experience, it's just not worth the hassle.

Huh. I remember my ASUS A7N8X-E having a AGP-Pro slot and it was working like regular AGP8x. So what are the extra pins for?

 

[Random Murderer]

Huh. I remember my ASUS A7N8X-E having a AGP-Pro slot and it was working like regular AGP8x. So what are the extra pins for?

More current delivery, as well as additional bandwidth. Like I said, AGP-Pro was designed for workstation cards.

 

[Trekkie4]

Wow, I'm surprised no one else pointed this out, but according to the online specs HP Visualize (P-Class) is a dual-CPU system, so I could theoretically have two S370 Pentiums 3 (1GHz each) along with 1024MB of memory, which is expandable up to 2048 (SD RAM though, no DDR on this machine).

Think I'm definitely going to grab this one, especially since I don't have to pay for it