I decided to take some pics of what my attic currently looks like. It's still a work in progress and theres lots of work to be done (mainly sorting all the stuff I accumulated over the years) but you can already see what it's going to look like when it's done.
I'm done placing the metal storage thingies (yes, blood was spilled 😵 ) and am sorting out all items in a meaningful way so I don't spend half my time looking for stuff and only finding stuff I was looking for 2 weeks ago...while tripping! 😵

First is a pic of what I call the parts corner. Not much has changed yet but most of all the stuff in there is being resorted atm. The stuff on the top is still going to be sorted, it's not going to stay this way.
This will possibly also be the area where I'll keep all paper notes, jumper settings, manual booklets, etc, all in a single spot 😀
***The*pics*are*clickable!!***
And mind you, theres still a lot of stuff on the floor. The attic is still under construction 🤣

Old parts corner

New parts corner

I've done some extensive changes in the mobo corner, mainly adding a lot of extra storage space as most of the stuff was laying on the ground all the time.
I've also added storage for all my floppy stuff, optical drives and harddrives as those were either stored in boxes everywhere or simply laying on the ground getting in my way all the time.

Old mobo corner

New mobo corner

The "media" corner, for stuff that has something to do with the computer word "drive"

The area where I kept my PSU's and some various stuff has doubled it's storage capacity (to the left what was already there, to the right the recently added one). I've planned to keep all my PSU's there (my AT PSU's were, again, basically everywhere) and use that area for miscellaneous stuff also. Part will be used to store extra computer cases (on top as theres plenty room left) and part will be my new "Newly received stuff I haven't cleaned+tested yet" area as everything I received either ended up getting mixed with the already tested stuff or, again, landing on top of some random area where there was still some surface area left.

How it was

How it is

"Computercase row" 😜

Next is my new workbench corner. Still need to sort through all the stuff I hastily put on top of there.
First pic is a pic of the old workbench corner, second one is the new one
The old bench corner used to be nothing but planks I salvaged from old furniture etc and lots of computer cases.
This was impractical though, the planks were simply too small and if I happened to need one of those cases I'd be stuffed 😜
For the new workbench I got another one of those metal storage thingies (what the heck are those storage thingies called in English anyway?? 😕 ) and basically set up 2 halves on top of which I placed an old door hehe 😜
And the newly created storage space beneath the new workbench is where I'll be keeping things like my test hardware, cables, cleaning stuff, adapters, CPU coolers, case fans and that kinda stuff 😉

Old bench corner

New bench corner

I'm kinda doing things as I go along, so not everything is final yet.
Theres still a couple drawer closet thingies to be placed here where I'll be storing small stuff like memory modules and other small things.

And what a long writeup this post was!
At least the clickable pics work, first time I tried it out that way 😁

Nice. For an attic, you've got some decent flooring and ceiling. The attic I use just has crappy chipboard, and it's wonky in places. Wow, you have got a lot of cases. I still need to get *one* AT case!

Very nice!

retro games 100 wrote:

Nice. For an attic, you've got some decent flooring and ceiling. The attic I use just has crappy chipboard, and it's wonky in places. Wow, you have got a lot of cases. I still need to get *one* AT case!

I actually need to start throwing cases out (not the AT cases! The crappy ATX cases that are ugly, shitty and partially incomplete 😜 ).
Problem is, theres still about 6 or so ATX cases in the spare bedroom and the 2 HP server cases I wanted to keep. I kept those below as I still need to mod the ATX cases (saw out the exhaust thingy that currently only has those tiny little holes in them) and I decided to keep the 2 server cases below as I don't want even more stuff up stairs getting in the way all the time 😜

But I can tell you, sorting things is really not my thing, I tend to loose focus much too often 😜

What is funny is that I come across stuff I had forgotten I already had!
And stuff that I basically kept and later found out they aren't of much use to me (like tokenring adapters).

I found out I need WAY more CPU trays so for now I'm keeping all the unsorted CPU's in little stacks inside a motherboard box. I'll need to create another batch of CPU trays once I finished sorting all the stuff 😜

Another reason for me to resort everything is that even though some of the stuff was actually properly sorted, theres just some items I'll hardly ever use, yet I keep bumping into. So part of the boxes are going to be hidden out of sight and only the stuff I'll most likely use will end up in the easiest to reach places.

Oooo...some real nice stuff in the modern mobo corner. I spy an Asus A8N32SLI-DLX, MSI 770-C43, A7V266, K9N NeoV3, A7V .... 😁

Your retro corner pic is a little blurry unfortunately

sgt76 wrote:

Oooo...some real nice stuff in the modern mobo corner. I spy an Asus A8N32SLI-DLX, MSI 770-C43, A7V266, K9N NeoV3, A7V .... 😁

Your retro corner pic is a little blurry unfortunately

L O L! Only the boxes, I don't have any of those boards though (except for one A7V266 and a couple A7V's).
But as you can see I got loads of motherboards (around 100 I guess), though many of them are not that interesting or special (and theres a couple boards I kept but had problems).
I got plebty of AT boards but most of them are Pentium boards, VX and TX and such. I do know I got a couple Super 7 AT boards (of which I only got 1 to post though).
I sorted the boards by their features, not only by what CPU socket they are. For instance, theres 1 stack of s370 Coppermine boards and another stack of s370 Tualatin boards. I slowly bought the Tualatin boards as they were quite cheap and often shipped with interesting parts (one of the boards came with 512MB SDRAM...times 3!! 😁 ).

At any rate, my efforts are slowly becoming more visible, finally!
I can't wait till it's all finished and I have an empty workbench again! 😁

That's a lot of kiwi !!!

bushwack wrote:

That's a lot of kiwi !!!

Kiwiboxes are teh best! 😁
Dutch fruit boxes suck 😜

bushwack wrote:

That's a lot of kiwi !!!

🤣.

I kept thinking the same thing. Tetrium, are you on an all-kiwi diet when you go to the attic?

SavantStrike wrote:

bushwack wrote:

That's a lot of kiwi !!!

🤣.

I kept thinking the same thing. Tetrium, are you on an all-kiwi diet when you go to the attic?

LMAO!! No, I just got the empty kiwiboxes from my local supermarket! 😉
I like these a LOT. They are voluminous, strong and easy to stack. You can stack these a meter high if you wanted to (practical experience 😁 ) and you can store basically anything in them, from motherboards with installed HSF's (normal motherboard boxes will be too low), diskettes, the longest expansion cards and even stuff like HSF's and optical drives 😀
To make storing easier I at one time decided to go with only a single type of box. Before I used the almighty kiwi boxes, I used tons of different boxes and had no end of troubles as you couldn't really go 3D 😜

Another thing I use a lot are the big sturdy shopping bags (usually red and made out of somekind of plastic fible instead of the regular 'sheets' of plastic), you can put a whole lot of boxes in them and those bags are strong enough to carry whole computers even (provided the case will fit. I used these shopping bags a lot back when I was still dumpsterdiving old AT cases around 8 years ago).
You can quickly put some stuff like cables and little boxes (for instance retail boxes) in one of these bags, carry it down the stairs and they fit easily in my backpack.

I know the thing with the shopping bags sound like a bad commercial 😜, but I've found them to be really practical for moving computer stuff quickly (instead of trying to carry an arm full of parts down a ladder).

If your collection is small, a single cupboard will suffice, but once you start having trouble finding what you're looking for due to the sheer number of parts you have laying around, you need to start storing smart 😜

Wow, Even after reading about your attic several times, there is even more stuff there than I could have guessed. It is like a retro PC warehouse.

gerwin wrote:

Wow, Even after reading about your attic several times, there is even more stuff there than I could have guessed. It is like a retro PC warehouse.

L O L! Dunno if I should feel thankful or ashamed 😜

I know I have a LOT of stuff. The thing is, I -am- a hoarder. I collect more then I'll ever use (posted about it in my "Who else collects insane amounts of hardware" thread) but in the end I chose to collect hardware as I have an uncontrollable urge to otherwise start collecting stuff that's REALLY pointless (like collecting stuff in online RPG...I mean, how pointless can one be?? 😜 ).

In the end I went with hardware as I always wanted to learn more about computers
At first (about 9 years ago?) I was even afraid to open up a computer. They were almost holy to me or something 😜
So at some point I decided to just look for an old expendable computer on the streets that I could experiment with without having fear for damaging my then only P2 system.

In the beginning I basically brought everything home, then in the evening or night trying to find any info about the hardware on google I had just found.
This is how I learned to find any related but significant info about hardware 😉
As I kept finding more and more stuff I started to get more selective. I chose to only bring standardized hardware home, thus excluding anything that wasn't standard AT (but I did scavenged tons of old IBM's and other 8086's for parts).
I collected motherboards (mostly 486 and Pentium 1 at the time), graphics cards, sound cards, CPU's, memory, old 100meg harddrives, basically anything I could unscrew from a system case.
If I found an ok looking AT case, I brought the entire thing home by bike!!
It was around 15 to 20km(!!!) I rode by bike for every AT case I now have stored away.

When looking at my pics, people might think I have it easy, having so many AT cases to pick from and having so much other vintage hardware, but in the end I found it all by riding my bike for countless hours. I calculated that in a single year I must've ridden approximately 10000km!!!, with many hundreds of km's with my bike loaded up with tons of bags, empty boxes and sometimes even riding with a complete computer case on my steering wheel! 😜
People seeing me ride past them must've thought I was nuts, but I didn't care L O L! 😜

@ Tetrium:

If it's one thing I learned- if you want to collect hardware you better be in good shape! 🤣

That being said I feel the years are catching up on me as I can no longer lift those towers as easily as I could before. New builds going fwd are going to be M-ATX and AT only!

@ sgt76:

That's kinda sad to hear. I'm still pretty young (in my earlier 30's) and when I lift some computer, I'm more worried about my back then the item being too heavy ('delicate' backs run in the family 😜).
Personally, if I were to notice the heavy towers are getting more heavier, I'll simply refuse to give in and keep trying to lift it! When it comes to these things, I'm more of a figher spirited person.

And when it comes to aging I just think "use it, or loose it", so I use it! Provided I don't receive another one of those pain stabs in my back when I make a funny turn again 😜
I'm not physically very strong or anything, but I'm very touch. I think "I want this and if I can't reach it by going right, I'll just go left, under it, around it, till I get it (or take a break and forget about it 😜)".

Btw, I was in VERY good shape back then! 😁

If things are really too heavy, then it's time to start finding ways to make the hardware lighter.
I'm thinking:
-Lighter case (not one made of steel)
-Instead of ordinary harddrives, use a laptop drive
-Use only 1 optical drive. I've noticed weight can vary a lot with, for instance, DVD drives!
-Use CPU's of a smaller manufacturing process. They generate less heat and thus can be cooled using lighter heatsinks 😉
-Instead of installing a regular version of XP, use nlite to slim down those fatty XP installs. This won't matter much for actual weight but it's more for teh spirit! 😁

The only thing I'd never compromise with are power supplies. I'd rather take a heavier one then an featherlight El Cheapo one.
But still theres lots of PSU's made that are not top-notch, but are still of good quality while not being extremely heavy (FSP comes to mind).

Tetrium wrote:

@ sgt76: That's kinda sad to hear. I'm still pretty young (in my earlier 30's) and when I lift some computer, I'm more worried a […]
Show full quote

@ sgt76:
That's kinda sad to hear. I'm still pretty young (in my earlier 30's) and when I lift some computer, I'm more worried about my back then the item being too heavy ('delicate' backs run in the family 😜).
Personally, if I were to notice the heavy towers are getting more heavier, I'll simply refuse to give in and keep trying to lift it! When it comes to these things, I'm more of a figher spirited person.

And when it comes to aging I just think "use it, or loose it", so I use it! Provided I don't receive another one of those pain stabs in my back when I make a funny turn again 😜
I'm not physically very strong or anything, but I'm very touch. I think "I want this and if I can't reach it by going right, I'll just go left, under it, around it, till I get it (or take a break and forget about it 😜)".

I have the same attitude to ageing... unfortunately my body doesn't!!! 🤣 Actually my problems started a couple years ago when I injured my back lifting weights (I blame Rocky Balboa personally 😵 ). Let me tell you that a dislocated vertebrae is indeed an agonizing experience. Bout the only good thing that came out of that was the hot nurse at the hospital- yes! I could still think about THAT despite being in so much pain that I couldn't take a crap without grimacing for 2 weeks...

-edited for my own health - 😅

How in the world did you ever get that much stuff? 😀=

Bit OT, but there is a right way to life things and a wrong way. You should lift with your legs. Basically sqat down, ass to the grass, grab the computer and then lift it with your legs.

Practice this on some 21" CRTs. They are just under 40Kg I believe, and pretty much the heaviest computer gear I lifted.

You don't want to bed over to pickup something heavy.

Oh and if worse comes to worse, just get rid of the case.

There was a time where I was the biggest cheap skate on the planet. I didn't even want to buy a case. What I did was get the foam thing of the logitech speakers and punched some holes in it. I put the PSU, HDD and ODD in it and the mainboard sat on-top.

It was basically a cheap arse version of a test bench 🤣

If you work a lot with various gear, there really is no need for a case.

Mau is right. When lifting heavy things I imagine my spine is a steel rod that I have to keep as straight and vertical as possible, and then I do all the work with everything but my back.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Bit OT, but there is a right way to life things and a wrong way. You should lift with your legs. Basically sqat down, ass to the […]
Show full quote

Bit OT, but there is a right way to life things and a wrong way. You should lift with your legs. Basically sqat down, ass to the grass, grab the computer and then lift it with your legs.

Practice this on some 21" CRTs. They are just under 40Kg I believe, and pretty much the heaviest computer gear I lifted.

You don't want to bed over to pickup something heavy.

Oh and if worse comes to worse, just get rid of the case.

There was a time where I was the biggest cheap skate on the planet. I didn't even want to buy a case. What I did was get the foam thing of the logitech speakers and punched some holes in it. I put the PSU, HDD and ODD in it and the mainboard sat on-top.

It was basically a cheap arse version of a test bench 🤣

If you work a lot with various gear, there really is no need for a case.

Excellent point.

Injury when moving things is often less about a lack of physical strength and more about bad technique when lifting them. If the object is truly too heavy, then you can always get a friend to help, and take breaks. A friend and I brought a 36 inch CRT up a flight of stairs that way. I'm never doing that again 😜.

As for cases, the heaviest desktop case I've ever handled was an Antec full tower case with ridiculously thick steel. It was indeed pretty heavy, but it weighed a lot more when I was done populating it with parts.

Hehehe...this is what I like about Vogons - COMPLETE coverage on classic hardwares, including personal safety with regards to handling these vintage pcs! 😁

Just some basic tips - which were already echoed by other members :

1. Don't lift anything heavier than 1/3rd of your total body weight, WHILE bending, unless you regularly lift weights in Gym, or have been supervised on weight lifting before.

2. Maintain a straight line from the neck up to your waist, while lifting. It's a good practice to maintain a straight back (without trying hard) at all sitting times, to slow or prevent future inter-vertebral space narrowing and vertebral surface erosions.

3. Maintain a back-strengthening exercise regime, at least three times a week. This will be helpful even at advanced age.
(Also helps for those who have back-aches after "sleeping" with their......(fill in your blanks). Yeah, I mean that "sleeping! 😁)

4. Enjoy classic PC goodness to the full!! 😁