TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[F-Zero]

Have you guys seen that?

Yeah i'm following Joe for quiet some time, crazy collection he got.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Alright nostalgia geeks I need some help identifying the origins of this chip.

View attachment 191127View attachment 191128

So naturally I'd expect this to be some trade show floor sample, or an internal chip, or even a review chip... But it's a pretty late date code for a ClawHammer FX-55, combined with the fact that I can't find any visual reference of any review chips ever carrying a "not for sale" warning. The only AMD chips I've seen with that warning are some older engineering/qualification samples sent to vendors and specifically picked out chips like the Phenom II 42 TWKR.

Anyone have a reference of where this chip may have originated from?

You're probably correct on a trade show giveaway. Might have more luck asking at CPU World.

 

[Ruru]

@Chloe Price, any news on the Radeon 9800 XT ?

Not yet, haven't got cash yet. I'll keep ya guys updated.

Yes, yes I did. Still have my Leadtek 6800nu. Big copper sinks on both sides of the card. Performed very well. Especially after using RivaTuner to unlock the extra pipes. Almost reached 6800GT levels but not quite.

Took the card apart and discovered height variations in the raised RAM pads resulting in uneven contact pressures, and gap over the GPU was much too wide. Being a machinist by trade thought to myself, I can improve that. Made a lapping block from solid aluminum and used micrometers to measure heights and got them all the same to match each chip. Much better contact on all areas. Now using premium paste. Card overclocked great afterward. Do not have screenshots for that anymore but do remember it was significant. Above 6800GT levels. Had my two weeks of fame being #7 on the top ten screen 3DMark 2003. Had so many e-mils asking that I made a Tripod page to show everything. Card still works today but have not opened the four pipes again. Have my 7800GS instead.

View attachment 190518

GF 6800 cards were AWESOME. I remember some which I had:

Asus 6800 LE (aka V9999LE) AGP, pixel/vertex units upened to 12/5 and oc'd to 380/940(DDR). Was pretty nice.
Leadtek 6800 AGP which was pre-modded to 16/6 units and it had GPU speed of a GT
Palit 6800 GS 128MB 128-bit AGP, kinda a weird one but still pretty ok for an AGP card
Club3D 6800 GS PCIe, I actually finished Crysis with this (1024x768 low and effects high, tho I had to drop to 800x600 on the last level)
Gainward 6800 Ultra AGP, I was stupid af and sold this about a decade ago..
Asus 6800 GT 128MB (aka V9999GT) AGP, that was kinda lame card as it was practically just a pre-modded 6800 (LE) as it had only 128MB GDDR instead of 256 GDDR3 like a real GT

...your pic reminds me that I bought also a 7800 GS recently but the card seems to be dead.

 

[Mr.Scott]

...your pic reminds me that I bought also a 7800 GS recently but the card seems to be dead.

That seems to be the way with those. I've gone through 7 7800 GS's and 4 7950 GT's.
Prices on those are getting stupid. Most go for 100 bucks or better now.

 

[Splinterdog]

Unfortunately my Leadtek A400 TDH 6800GT has finally given up, but it was a great card while it lasted
Anyway, I finally put a Winfast Geforce 3 in the P4/XP build, managed to get the 2GB of RAM in dual channel mode and XP Pro installed without any issue. I also found a great site with all the drivers for the Intel D865 mobo and the machine flies along.
It's good to keep reminding myself how far we've come in the last 20 years. The only time I use CD ROMs and floppies are when I play with old tech, but it's still very rewarding when it all comes together.

 

[Ruru]

What would be a good game with a benchmark feature? Now I'll finally do that review with many GPUs (AGP and PCIe), using the same CPU on every one of those (A64 X2 6000+ @ 3.2GHz)

E: I'll go with Doom 3 at least

 

[framebuffer]

What would be a good game with a benchmark feature? Now I'll finally do that review with many GPUs (AGP and PCIe), using the same CPU on every one of those (A64 X2 6000+ @ 3.2GHz)

E: I'll go with Doom 3 at least

It depends of the era, can you be more precise?

 

[Ruru]

It depends of the era, can you be more precise?

About something from 2003 to 2005 and it has to have built-in benchmark (or timedemo feature).

Ran the benchmarks (3DMark 2001SE, 03, Doom 3 at 1024x768 medium) already on GF3 Ti 200... now it's 6600 GT's turn. I run every card at stock and with a mild OC.

 

[Ashley98]

Been collecting for about 4-5 years now
Have about
87 Nvidia AGP
63 Radeon AGP
Prices are getting out of hand
A 7950 GT on eBay just recently sold for £333.99
There is people scalping retro GPUs now not cool DO NOT pay these prices!

Whole Collection Sheets Doc + Prices i paid

Copy of Inventory

docs.google.com

 

[Mr.Scott]

Prices are getting out of hand
A 7950 GT on eBay just recently sold for £333.99
There is people scalping retro GPUs now not cool DO NOT pay these prices!

Also beware of the Chinese knockoff's. Had 2 7950 GT's that lasted me about 10 minutes each.
Was denied refund. Claimed user error.

Hello Ash.
Always a pleasure.

 

[QuietBob]

About something from 2003 to 2005 and it has to have built-in benchmark (or timedemo feature).

I guess Far Cry and Half Life 2 are a must then. Both came out in 2004 and were true touchstones of their time. You can benchmark them with a simple scripted app. Other than these, AquaMark3 benchmark uses the same engine as the 2003 game AquaNox 2 and the 2004 Counter-Strike: Source has a built-in benchmark.

 

[Ashley98]

Hey Scotty
Nice to see you here,

As for Geforce 7 Series AGP collecting. Avoid XFX 7900GS/7950GT there is some kind of massive factory defect with them both, I had a 7900GS in was working for 3 mins then poof Lines through the screen there has been a few people with the same exact lines issue picture perfect might i add. So if someone with PCB diagnosis knowledge can find out what goes wrong with these cards would be great as seems consistent.

If you live in the US , You may be able to find an 7900GS/7950GT AGP by Galaxy. Leadtek Also made a 7950GT
If you live in Europe , Then you should have no issues finding a Gainward 7800GS+ there is 2 main versions you want the 20 Pipe (7900gs with barcode 47846200-7739) and 24 Pipe (7950gt with barcode 471846200-7876). These are far the best 7 Series AGP cards they never go above 60c even with overclocks pushed to the max. Only issue i see sometimes caps need replacing as there from the cap plague

 

[F-Zero]

Here are some benches with the HD 2900 PRO vs HD 3870 Toxic I did yesterday.

System specs are:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, default clock
DFI LanParty DK x38 T2RB
4x2 Gb DDR 2 800 Mhz
Crucial BX 500 480 Gb SSD
Windows XP Pro
HD 2900 PRO 13.1 Driver
HD 3870 12.1 Driver

Benches are:
Crysis, 1280x1024, High Details, No AA
D00M 3, 1280x1024, Ultra Details, No AA
3DMark06, Default

 

[QuietBob]

Then you should have no issues finding a Gainward 7800GS+ there is 2 main versions you want the 20 Pipe (7900gs with barcode 47846200-7739) and 24 Pipe (7950gt with barcode 471846200-7876). These are far the best 7 Series AGP cards

Gainward used to make some of the best AGP cards back then. I had a 7600GT Golden Sample. It was factory overclocked at 575/750, but could do 710/850 and match a regular 7800GT.

Here are some benches with the HD 2900 PRO vs HD 3870 Toxic I did yesterday.

Got nearly identical results in 3dMark06 with an oc'd HD3850 on AGP, so I guess it checks out.

 

[Ruru]

I guess Far Cry and Half Life 2 are a must then. Both came out in 2004 and were true touchstones of their time. You can benchmark them with a simple scripted app. Other than these, AquaMark3 benchmark uses the same engine as the 2003 game AquaNox 2 and the 2004 Counter-Strike: Source has a built-in benchmark.

Yea, I need to test FarCry too and why not AM3 as well at least. Tho too lazy to do that now as I'm not going to retest with all the AGP cards now, as I'm already in HD 3850 and then I'll switch to PCIe platform.

 

[Ashley98]

Gainward used to make some of the best AGP cards back then. I had a 7600GT Golden Sample. It was factory overclocked at 575/750, but could do 710/850 and match a regular 7800GT.

I had one of my 7800GS+ AGP Cards doing 7900GTX Speeds just fine which is totally insane

 

[QuietBob]

Remember my Win7 min spec project? I purposedly built a rig using the weakest components officially supported by Microsoft. My goal was to create the absolute minimum system able to run the 64-bit version with Aero Glass UI and see how it performs today.
At the time the slowest drive I had on hand was a 120 GB 5,400 rpm laptop HDD. MS's own minimum is 20 GB. I've been trying to source such a small drive for a while. Now I finally got it



The guy said he'd trade it for a big chocolate. No, I'm not kidding. It's 20 GB and 4,200 rpm, and the only snag is connecting it to an ATX board. It's a laptop drive, so it uses a 2.5" 44-pin IDE connector, rather than the standard 3.5" 40-pin one. Luckily, I was able to procure an appropriate adapter. TBH, I didn't even know they existed.



The four additional pins on the 2.5" connector carry power, hence the molex.
Windows 7, here I come!

 

[Susquehannock]

That seems to be the way with those. I've gone through 7 7800 GS's and 4 7950 GT's.
Prices on those are getting stupid. Most go for 100 bucks or better now.

Seven of them huh? Wow. My problem was getting a good one in the first place. Received three dead BFG 7800gs in a row. Some had obviously been returns and poor repair attempts. Made a post about it [h]ere back in the day.

Eventually ended up eating over $80 in return shipping and insurance charges. NewEgg and BFG kept running me around placing blame on one other. Spent near a year on it. Even showed them close to two dozen bad review posts with similar issues on Egg's site. Oh well. Almost embarrassed to say this but that card kept me going in a XP/nForce2 system until 2016 when I finally upgraded. Was during my Metalsmithing phase when I did not use PC much. And the card still works perfectly - so far.

 

[Mr.Scott]

My problem was getting a good one in the first place.

Partially mine also. 4 of those were DOA's of both new and second hand. I killed the other 3 benching. I have one working one left. I haven't had a working 7950 GT in years.
Pretty much any on e-bay now will probably be dead, so beware all.

 

[Trekkie4]

These are not mine (I wish they are ... I could sure use one, myself with all the DVDs around here!) but thought I'd post them nevertheless


But the unanswered question still remains ... can you use your DVD rewinder on a CD and/or Blue Ray? Or would it rewind the movie the wrong way & corrupt all the data?

 

[Ruru]

can you use your DVD rewinder on a CD and/or Blue Ray? Or would it rewind the movie the wrong way & corrupt all the data?

I was wondering the same... it takes ages on PS3 to rewind blurays, dammit.

 

[Splinterdog]

Those heatsinks are reversible. Turn it around man!

Solved!

EDIT;
That system would also greatly benefit from a SB Live or SB Audigy for one of those bottom PCI slots.

Don't have any fancy sound cards unfortunately, but I do have a nice little speaker which I simply use for testing sound on customer PCs.
Since it also has a rechargeable battery, it can also be used in conjunction with a portable transistor radio like a Walkman when there's a power failure

 

[hat]

These are not mine (I wish they are ... I could sure use one, myself with all the DVDs around here!) but thought I'd post them nevertheless


But the unanswered question still remains ... can you use your DVD rewinder on a CD and/or Blue Ray? Or would it rewind the movie the wrong way & corrupt all the data?

I was wondering the same... it takes ages on PS3 to rewind blurays, dammit.

Probably won't work on blu-ray, it uses a different laser.

 

[Trekkie4]

Probably won't work on blu-ray, it uses a different laser.

It doesn't have (or need) a laser to rewind, but I get your point!

Rewind too fast (or in the wrong direction) & you'll scramble all your data! So, just to be a on a safe side, use DVD rewinder strictly for rewinding DVDs. Then hopefully, some day perhaps ... we shall see more flexible solution

 

[Valantar]

It doesn't have (or need) a laser to rewind, but I get your point!

Rewind too fast (or in the wrong direction) & you'll scramble all your data! So, just to be a on a safe side, use DVD rewinder strictly for rewinding DVDs. Then hopefully, some day perhaps ... we shall see more flexible solution

But without the correct laser, how can it ensure it doesn't rewind too far? Does it just guess based on the capacity of a standard DVD? That sounds risky. I don't think I'd trust it without sufficient safety precautions.