^ it's basically a DB-60XG/SW-60XG in module form, right?
I have tested it, sounds the same... (still prefer the roland stuff, even the scb-7 sounds better in my ears - in games )
Already have a MU80 btw, I just got this since I am on a spending spree 🤣 🤣 🤣

vetz wrote:

Jan3Sobieski wrote:

sliderider wrote:

Where do these Neon 250's keep coming from and why can't I find one? 😠

That's what I would like to know. I've been looking for one for 2 years now.

The one Artex got was one that showed up on Ebay about a month ago. He apparently made a significant bid directly to the seller, as my very high bid did not beat Artex 😜 The card NitroX infinity got is the card that Tim sold last year. Other than that I don't know about any other Neon250 auctions. I know several collectors own the card, and I*m actually open to trading my 3D Blaster VLB for a working card. I'm more of a "tester" than collector.

Yeah, the guy was from Germany and it was rather difficult communicating with him as he doesn't know much English and apparently has never shipped items overseas, or at least to the US. I Skyped with him back and forth for about a week and he's a pretty cool guy. I paid top dollar for it, but he threw in a couple of nice surprises including that VideoLogic/NEC Apocalypse 5D, that boxed VideoLogic Sonic Vortex 2 card, and a Trident video card - all of which I was NOT expecting to be in the box. It got held in customs for a little while and I was getting a little sweaty...but it finally got here.

I'm really tempted to open up the sealed box and drop the card into one of my systems.. What to do!?

Artex wrote:

I'm really tempted to open up the sealed box and drop the card into one of my systems.. What to do!?

I say open it up, drop it in and run it 😁 And I'll stop by your house to check it out 😁 (I live 2 hrs away from you 😉

j/k

Jan3Sobieski wrote:

Artex wrote:

I'm really tempted to open up the sealed box and drop the card into one of my systems.. What to do!?

I say open it up, drop it in and run it 😁 And I'll stop by your house to check it out 😁 (I live 2 hrs away from you 😉

j/k

Swaaye is about 2 hours from me as well!

Artex wrote:

I'm really tempted to open up the sealed box and drop the card into one of my systems.. What to do!?

You gotta ask what kind of person you are. If you care more about keeping the value up, save it, if you care more about exploring the secrets of the card and view this more as a hobby, go ahead and open it. Even if you open it you still have a mint condition box and card with a card that is tested. The value loss on rare computer parts isn't as big as with action figures. People with this interest mainly buy to use and test the hardware at some point.

I have opened still sealed SSI rpgs from 1991 to play and drool over the stuff inside, I see no point in keeping stuff sealed if you want to use them or thinking about them 😉

vetz wrote:

Artex wrote:

I'm really tempted to open up the sealed box and drop the card into one of my systems.. What to do!?

You gotta ask what kind of person you are. If you care more about keeping the value up, save it, if you care more about exploring the secrets of the card and view this more as a hobby, go ahead and open it. Even if you open it you still have a mint condition box and card with a card that is tested. The value loss on rare computer parts isn't as big as with action figures. People with this interest mainly buy to use and test the hardware at some point.

If someone does ever open theirs, I'd love to see a copy of the driver CD, a high-res PCB scan and a dump of the video BIOS! 🤣 (Perhaps NitroX Infinity has already done this and I haven't been paying attention.) With Dreamcast/NAOMI being emulated, perhaps a Neon250 emulation might not be all that difficult to add to MESS or Bochs or even DOSBox should someone be properly motivated... and more testcases for Dreamcast video emulation is always a good thing 😀

I'm starting to think that Artex will keep a generation of 'sill in cellophane' hardware alive. Think about it - at some point the whole concept of 'new-in-box' will be gone - what then? In a perverse way we should applaud the person who is willing to maintain this equipment in a virginal condition - for no other reason that it has not yet been handled. These people, and the hardware they collect, will be in the minuscule minority very soon, so maybe it's not a bad thing at all.

By the time that happens, I don't think there'll be anyone around who cares. My daughters aren't going to give a toss about my new in box stuff from the 90's when I finish my backlog of games and kick the bucket (age 125). I'm for opening and enjoying stuff.

Don't open that Neon 250!!! There weren't that many made in the first place and probably only a handful of them left in the original shrinkwrap. That's one you want to save unopened because the value will go up faster than if it was opened because it is so rare.

Fuck the value, I say open it and live the moment 😀 !

Just as I suspected all Gainbery branded Cpus apart from the 133 must be the same IBM 5x86C-100 cpu which will run at 120mhz anyway, back in the day this would have been a good value proposition if you knew the GB75 would run at 120mhz, chances are you wouldn't know because of the internet infancy back in 96.

Good buy for $23 posted, apart from this ive bought two other ceramic IBM 5x86C-100 GF cpus for around $25 posted each, in total I have 5 ibm cpus rated at 100 ie good for 120mhz with a bit of luck I should be able to find the right board to get me some 2x66 or 2x60 cyrix 5x86 action!

just received this, a 1st gen MT-32 😁

the sound volume knob feels strange, it even got stuck during some tests... IIRC volume changes go through the unit's cpu, could this be the cause it got stuck until power-cycle?
other than that I need to rearrange my modules, the MT-32 is wider but has less depth than a CM-32L... bah

tincup wrote:

I'm starting to think that Artex will keep a generation of 'sill in cellophane' hardware alive. Think about it - at some point the whole concept of 'new-in-box' will be gone - what then? In a perverse way we should applaud the person who is willing to maintain this equipment in a virginal condition - for no other reason that it has not yet been handled. These people, and the hardware they collect, will be in the minuscule minority very soon, so maybe it's not a bad thing at all.

*applause* 😎

sliderider wrote:

Don't open that Neon 250!!! There weren't that many made in the first place and probably only a handful of them left in the original shrinkwrap. That's one you want to save unopened because the value will go up faster than if it was opened because it is so rare.

It's definitely an Angel and Devil on the shoulder type of situation I've got here.... The thing is, does the value actually go up on this stuff? I know the Roland stuff holds value pretty well, but I don't know if it's true for the rest of the hardware of this generation. I collect primarily for reasons of nostalgia - because I didn't have (or couldn't afford) all of this stuff I wanted back in the day. Sure I have several retro PCs that I tinker with, but it's more of an issue of time, or lack of it... I just don't have the time to spend on these systems like I did when I was younger.

badmojo wrote:

By the time that happens, I don't think there'll be anyone around who cares. My daughters aren't going to give a toss about my new in box stuff from the 90's when I finish my backlog of games and kick the bucket (age 125). I'm for opening and enjoying stuff.

I don't know of any women that think this stuff is cool - especially my wife. Each time the doorbell rings with the USPS person waiting for a signature, I get "the look." 😵

Artex wrote:

The thing is, does the value actually go up on this stuff? I know the Roland stuff holds value pretty well, but I don't know if it's true for the rest of the hardware of this generation.

The 3D Blaster VLB that was sealed sold for less than the one that was open and in mint condition, so that sealed stuff always sell for more isn't always true. I think for software, sealed stuff keeps value better than for hardware. Hardware is something tangible which people want to see and feel physically, not just imagine through a box.

It is supply and demand. Something being rare doesnt mean it's worth a lot of money. I'm sure there are tens of products that came out in the 90s that are more rare than the Neon250, but sell for almost nothing. I've actually started to think it through why people are so interested in the Neon250. I mean, beside the SGL compatibility there isn't much going for it! The SGL compatibility is also unknown and might not work very well in many games as it was never tested in the reviews and nobody has come forward with it since.

Then again there are ONLY two games in the whole SGL library that would really benefit from a Neon250, given that its SGL performance is better than the PCX2. Those two games are Tomb Raider (ability to run in 1024x768, making it the superior version) and Cybertroopers: Virtual On. The PCX2 can't keep up the framerate in that high resolution in Tomb Raider and the same happens in some areas of Cybertroopers. Tomb Raider runs in DOS on a special PCX1 or PCX2 executable (depending on what you have), the only game using PowerSGL Direct, which is similar to statically linked 3DFX games. The chance of the game working on a Neon250 is rather slim in my opinion. That leaves Cybertroopers: Virtual On, a good game, but which is incredible hard to find on PowerVR. There are many other SGL games that could benefit from more performance than what you get from the PCX2, but with those games you have options to get better performance and equal or higher resolutions with Glide/Direct3D (ie, Metal Fatigue)

Does value go up? For some of the stuff it will, but knowing what will increase is a good guess as mine. Roland stuff haven't increased in the last years, except for intelligent MIDI cards which has increased from 20 dollars up to 100+ in the last two years. Then again, software like SoftMPU might eventually get the price lower again, so selling your excess MIDI card at the moment seems like a good time. Yamaha MIDI devices which in my opinion sound superior to Roland in many games was for a long time very low priced due to a certain Chinese seller. Now it is still low prices compared to what you get, but the price should increase here imo! Then we had the surge on AWE64 Gold some moths ago. Hard to explain why, but prices are down again to normal levels. Personally I think that the prices of Voodoo 5 cards are artificially high. Then again you have stuff that makes no sense, like boxed Apocalypse 3D (PCX1) card that was sold for 300 euros, but the same card as NEC 3DEngine doesn't sell for more than 10-20 euros as boxed..... Brand awareness does matter...

keropi wrote:

just received this, a 1st gen MT-32 😁

the sound volume knob feels strange, it even got stuck during some tests... IIRC volume changes go through the unit's cpu, could this be the cause it got stuck until power-cycle?
other than that I need to rearrange my modules, the MT-32 is wider but has less depth than a CM-32L... bah

I haven't had any problems with mine so i have no idea.

You have all the synths you need to cover pretty much every taste. MU80, SC55, MT-32 and CM-32L is all one needs. Losing my hopes to get a CM-32L... 😢

^ tested in Zeliard, I have fiddled with volume too much and it would not increase/decrease... maybe it was a coincidence

Artex wrote:

badmojo wrote:

By the time that happens, I don't think there'll be anyone around who cares. My daughters aren't going to give a toss about my new in box stuff from the 90's when I finish my backlog of games and kick the bucket (age 125). I'm for opening and enjoying stuff.

I don't know of any women that think this stuff is cool - especially my wife. Each time the doorbell rings with the USPS person waiting for a signature, I get "the look." 😵

HAHAHA, that is exactly that same thing that happens at my house. We should shake hands.

Actually we should get our wives to become bffs, have them go shopping and leave us to our treasures. 😁