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What could this be?

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First post, by retrosalvage

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I saw someone post this as part of a garage sale. I can't get more pictures or information, I will have to make a drive out there over the weekend.

It almost looks like two PC's in one case?

Reply 1 of 20, by elszgensa

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It looks like two PCs in one case because that's what it is. You'll notice (from the installed cards' ports) that one of them's upside down, that's because they're mounted back to back to a plate down the middle. I've seen a (very) few "enthusiast" cases like that (e.g. Nanoxia Dual System), but this looks rather industrial - for example, more cooling that I'd expect in a beige box, and the oddly placed keyboard connectors inbetween the slots. Then again it has sound cards, which I don't really see having much of a place in such a context (plant control equipment? likely not an office machine anyways).

Reply 2 of 20, by dionb

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A beast!

Second the idea that whatever this is now, it's been modified from original config.

I'm guessing the case originally held two full-AT boards with slots on either side of the keyboard connector. Now though there are only serial and parallel ports 'above' the connector, so I'm guessing there are now two pretty standard baby AT motherboards in here.

On the right-hand side there's PS/2 and USB, that looks like an Asus proprietary break-out card. The VGA is in the second slot under the keyboard connector, which rules out the P5A-B pr P2B-B as their first slot is AGP in third position. The TX97 would be possible, with the top PCI slot in second position and the USB/PS/2 header below that. The NIC looks like a very small PCB 10/100 design, most likely RTL8139B-based. VGA and sound could be anything.

On the left, the system could be identical, but in that case lack of USB and PS/2 is odd. The NIC is another small one. Only one LED, so possibly 10Mb 8029AS-based, but could be a dual-colour LED 10/100 instead. In any event it looks like PCI, so combination of no PS/2 or USB with PCI suggests an early PCI 486 motherboard. VGA is different to the other system, but no indication exactly what. Sound is exactly the same as the other one. Those two screws with the three 3.5mm jacks slightly off-center look very characteristic, but I can't immediately link it to a particular card.

PSUs are big old full AT, probably have big flip switches round the front.

Reply 3 of 20, by H3nrik V!

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I think that just might be an "add to cart" 🤣 I would find it hard to resist, depending on the distance of the drive ...

Is that actually an LG branded NIC in one of them?

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 4 of 20, by Trashbytes

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H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-02-15, 21:21:

I think that just might be an "add to cart" 🤣 I would find it hard to resist, depending on the distance of the drive ...

Is that actually an LG branded NIC in one of them?

I wouldnt even bat an eyelid at the contents . .that case alone would be enough for me to make off with it.

Reply 5 of 20, by PcBytes

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My guess is two P/I-P65UP8 or UP5s, but I'm not fully sure. They'd sure be the kind of monsters you'd expect in such a case.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 6 of 20, by retrosalvage

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Reading the replies to this, I was inspired to make the drive out (only about 40 Km). It seems like it was some sort of a storage server with two Socket 7 boards with Riva TNT and a 3dfx Banshee graphics cards. It is big and heavy!

Reply 7 of 20, by retrosalvage

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Some more pics

Reply 8 of 20, by dionb

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So much for "Asus" - two time PC Chips M577, with Via MVP3 chipset relabeled as "AGPPro PC100". That sound chip with "PCI" on it is interesting too. It's not a PCI but an ISA chip (srsly PC Chips.. why?), a C-Media CMI8330, which is one of the best DOS chips with support for just about everything including SB16, and bug-free MPU-401 MIDI as well.

The NIC next to the TNT2 is low profile with something non-Realtek on it. Most likely it's a relabeled RTL8139 after all, but it might be a DEC Tulip 2114x, possibly labled as Kingston KNE100TX.

Nice removable drives too, for me the most interesting bit other than the case itself.

What did you pay for it? Even if none of the contents interests you, selling that Banshee would probably pay for any reasonable amount, at least after cleaning it up.

Reply 9 of 20, by retrosalvage

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dionb wrote on 2024-02-18, 15:20:
So much for "Asus" - two time PC Chips M577, with Via MVP3 chipset relabeled as "AGPPro PC100". That sound chip with "PCI" on i […]
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So much for "Asus" - two time PC Chips M577, with Via MVP3 chipset relabeled as "AGPPro PC100". That sound chip with "PCI" on it is interesting too. It's not a PCI but an ISA chip (srsly PC Chips.. why?), a C-Media CMI8330, which is one of the best DOS chips with support for just about everything including SB16, and bug-free MPU-401 MIDI as well.

The NIC next to the TNT2 is low profile with something non-Realtek on it. Most likely it's a relabeled RTL8139 after all, but it might be a DEC Tulip 2114x, possibly labled as Kingston KNE100TX.

Nice removable drives too, for me the most interesting bit other than the case itself.

What did you pay for it? Even if none of the contents interests you, selling that Banshee would probably pay for any reasonable amount, at least after cleaning it up.

Thank you, I will clean it up and take a closer look. I got a whole lot of other things too like old RAM, processors, boxed ps2 keyboards, cables, average PCI graphics cards, more PCI nic's etc. All in all for 80 USD.

Reply 10 of 20, by rasz_pl

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What an absolute beast of a case! They dont make them like this anymore - as in all that wasted space around motherboard 😀 Is the whole thing Enermax or just the supply?
AMD VIA PCCHIPS 3d graphic cards, all unfortunate choices for a data storage solution 😀

AT&T Globalyst/FIC 486-GAC-2 Cache Module reproduction
Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) ZBIOS 'MFM-300 Monitor' reverse engineering

Reply 11 of 20, by retrosalvage

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rasz_pl wrote on 2024-02-18, 15:39:

What an absolute beast of a case! They dont make them like this anymore - as in all that wasted space around motherboard 😀 Is the whole thing Enermax or just the supply?
AMD VIA PCCHIPS 3d graphic cards, all unfortunate choices for a data storage solution 😀

I am not 100% sure, I have not seen Enermax branding other than the supply. Yeah, it seems like it got repurposed into a retro gaming rig.

Reply 12 of 20, by waterbeesje

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Pc Chips M577 ftw! I own one too and it literally just takes any s7 compatible CPU you throw at it. On the whole it's noticeable slower than any other Ali V or mVP3 board, but rock steady. One of the better PC Chips boards imo (although I recently got some Alpina 430VX boards that seem pretty ok too)

The compatibility is one reason why I use it as a testing board 😀

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 13 of 20, by orcish75

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Awesome find!! Looks like a beast of a machine.

There's a hint in the first photo, that you may be from South Africa. 😀

Reply 14 of 20, by retrosalvage

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orcish75 wrote on 2024-02-18, 19:40:

Awesome find!! Looks like a beast of a machine.

There's a hint in the first photo, that you may be from South Africa. 😀

I am indeed from Johannesburg as well. What gave it away 🤣 ? Not a massive community here so good to meet fellow enthusiasts 😀

Reply 15 of 20, by orcish75

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retrosalvage wrote:

I am indeed from Johannesburg as well. What gave it away 🤣 ?

I think most Saffas would spot it, especially us in Joburg/Pretoria. If there were solar panels or a generator in the photo as well, then it would've been a dead give away! 🤣

retrosalvage wrote:

Not a massive community here so good to meet fellow enthusiasts 😀

Yup, there are a couple of members on this forum, @Jesolo is very active, he's down in Cape Town.

Reply 16 of 20, by retrosalvage

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orcish75 wrote on 2024-02-19, 12:45:
I think most Saffas would spot it, especially us in Joburg/Pretoria. If there were solar panels or a generator in the photo as w […]
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retrosalvage wrote:

I am indeed from Johannesburg as well. What gave it away 🤣 ?

I think most Saffas would spot it, especially us in Joburg/Pretoria. If there were solar panels or a generator in the photo as well, then it would've been a dead give away! 🤣

retrosalvage wrote:

Not a massive community here so good to meet fellow enthusiasts 😀

Yup, there are a couple of members on this forum, @Jesolo is very active, he's down in Cape Town.

True, one can just spot a Saffa miles away. I thought it may have been the electric fence 🤣.

Reply 17 of 20, by st31276a

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retrosalvage wrote on 2024-02-19, 12:51:
orcish75 wrote on 2024-02-19, 12:45:
I think most Saffas would spot it, especially us in Joburg/Pretoria. If there were solar panels or a generator in the photo as w […]
Show full quote
retrosalvage wrote:

I am indeed from Johannesburg as well. What gave it away 🤣 ?

I think most Saffas would spot it, especially us in Joburg/Pretoria. If there were solar panels or a generator in the photo as well, then it would've been a dead give away! 🤣

retrosalvage wrote:

Not a massive community here so good to meet fellow enthusiasts 😀

Yup, there are a couple of members on this forum, @Jesolo is very active, he's down in Cape Town.

True, one can just spot a Saffa miles away. I thought it may have been the electric fence 🤣.

Die honde lyk vir my soos Suid-Afrikaanse honde. Iets aan die houding 😃

Reply 18 of 20, by retrosalvage

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st31276a wrote on 2024-02-19, 13:18:
retrosalvage wrote on 2024-02-19, 12:51:
orcish75 wrote on 2024-02-19, 12:45:

I think most Saffas would spot it, especially us in Joburg/Pretoria. If there were solar panels or a generator in the photo as well, then it would've been a dead give away! 🤣

Yup, there are a couple of members on this forum, @Jesolo is very active, he's down in Cape Town.

True, one can just spot a Saffa miles away. I thought it may have been the electric fence 🤣.

Die honde lyk vir my soos Suid-Afrikaanse honde. Iets aan die houding 😃

Look - nee, houding - ja 😅

Reply 19 of 20, by orcish75

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retrosalvage wrote:

True, one can just spot a Saffa miles away. I thought it may have been the electric fence 🤣.

🤣 It was indeed the electric fence, I've only seen that type of pylon in SA, and the pitbull was a small clue.