Re: Good value PC for Win98 - evading the RETRO TAX
Posted on 2021-03-05, 17:44
I agree about P4 systems being the cheapest way to go.
Re: Frys electronics is Closing.
Posted on 2021-02-24, 22:13
None around here but I do recall people complaining returns were just chucked back on the shelf to sell again as new.
Re: If you have multiple PCs set up, how do you handle your sound output?
Posted on 2021-02-11, 03:49
Belkin SOHO line of KVM switches with audio and mic switching work for me (DVI based and VGA).
Re: If we were to accept 15 years ago as retro....
Posted on 2021-02-11, 01:33
Just look at how much progress was made between 2000 and 2005 (Quake III Arena / Quake 4) and how much in any 5 years interval since then. This is a really interesting concept. Most games from 2011 still look good and there's really nothing to complain about the controls. Think about games from …
Re: If we were to accept 15 years ago as retro....
Posted on 2021-02-11, 01:23
For me I think of retro as not used or supported anymore. You can lump anything that has [...] standalone sound cards. To this day I don't consider a PC complete without a dedicated sound card. My daily driver has an ASUS Xonar DGX and I built it out of brand new parts about 2 years ago. Built in …
Re: Voodoo 1 vs Voodoo 2 in a Pentium 200 (non mmx), worth it?
Posted on 2021-02-11, 01:10
I would think a P2/P3 would be better for a Voodoo 2. I run my SLI V2 on a P3-500 system. I also have a V1 on a Pentium (233 I believe) system.
Re: If we were to accept 15 years ago as retro....
Posted on 2021-02-09, 00:43
Soon to be vintage: - optical disk drives. Given how many I've acquired for free because they were already in the case I bought, they're definitely in the obsolete phase (not to me with a large DVD collection) but not yet in the 'this is my ticket to riches, I'll list it on eBay for low three …
Re: If we were to accept 15 years ago as retro....
Posted on 2021-02-09, 00:42
For me I think of retro as not used or supported anymore. You can lump anything that has pre DDR ram, isa/eisa/vlb/PCI/MCA slots, only 1 core CPU, DOS/Win3/Win9x/Win2k, standalone sound cards. There were major shifts in software going from DOS to Windows 3 then Win9x and NT/2k/XP and from 32 to 64 …
Re: Intel smashes Ryzen
Posted on 2021-01-16, 07:14
It takes years to get new fabs in operation and TSMC is probably just getting more production down the road for their current major customers (AMD and Apple). I would bet that is AMD could get 3x the CPU's made they would sell them all, same with GPU's. So much silicon going into consoles.
Re: When did you purchase your first 386 / 486 Computer? Availability vs the early 90's affordability norm.
Posted on 2021-01-01, 21:06
I sold my 286-12 Packard Bell and put together a 386DX/40 sometime in 1992 and put a 387 coprocessor and upgraded the RAM to 16MB in 1993 I think.
Re: Retro Rig Photo Thread
Posted on 2020-12-25, 19:32
Where I live those desktop power strips are unheard of and I am constantly amazed they are not actually kvms. Iv inherited one from my grandfather and my 2nd one was found at Goodwill for $5. I absolutely love these power strips. I have one in use since it was new. The lights do burn out over time …
Re: Amiga A500 Neccesary equipment
Posted on 2020-12-06, 04:38
You need a Amiga Workbech floppy to boot from and a separate external floppy drive to dump images to the Amiga using a null model cable and Amiga Explorer on a PC.
Re: Were VLB video cards ever good?
Posted on 2020-11-12, 23:33
A good VLB card made using Windows 3.1 at 1024x768 256 color pretty snappy and at a decent refresh so your eyes did not hurt. There are decent ISA cards with the same chips as on some VLB cards that were fast in 320x240 or VGA where the bandwidth didn't limit them as much as higher resolution as …
Re: Maxing Intel P45 memory
Posted on 2020-10-21, 21:39
There are 4GB DDR2 DIMMs that are not ECC Reg. I have a set of 4 that were supposed to work on only a few specific AMD boards (the chipsets were PCIE 2 and they could also run DDR2 1066 I think). I stuck one into an Intel Core2 board and it actually worked and shows up as 4GB (this is an odd Acer …
Re: Huge Server / Full AT Case - what to use it for?
Posted on 2020-10-21, 04:57
Well a giant case is for giant motherboard. I have a 486 ISA board with 16 x 30 pin SIMM slots and a Weitek socket I plan on using with one of my full tower AT cases (the motherboard barely fit into a midsize ATX case I have). Another option would be a dual processor AT board (Dual P1's in my case). …
Re: Retro Hardware Collecting rants
Posted on 2020-10-20, 20:51
pan069 wrote on 2020-10-20, 20:49: I "watched" an item on eBay the other day. 30 mins later the price was raised by $30. 🤔 Too many people watching it, sellers know.
Re: what will you do when your last hardware fails?
Posted on 2020-10-16, 00:38
Re: Worst Nightmare ? Athlon X2 PC from Trash to Treasure
Posted on 2020-10-14, 10:14
I rarely bother with a generic power supply that is that dirty but I have cleaned some motherboards and CPU fans that were nasty (soap and water then air dry). You can smoker smell off of motherboards with a washing but not out of power supplies.
Re: Iconic Sound Blaster CT numbers
Posted on 2020-10-14, 10:09
Gravis UlraSounds on a Wall and not used :( When so many peoples never heard how they sound. One of my friends had a GUS back in the day when I had a SB16 and I got a lot more use out of my card then he did, dumping it for a soundblaster after a year. If you like the old demo scene, tracker music, …
Re: what will you do when your last hardware fails?
Posted on 2020-10-14, 07:13
Electron migration is a thing for hot running CPU and GPU chips that will kill them eventually.
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