As the card isnt hard to come by I would grab another AWE64 or SB32 and keep that one boxed.

I like opening stuff... but storing the box somewhere safe because I like boxes too xD
Not running a board for far too long can cause problems with the capacitors.

If it's the only one you have and you want to use it, use it. If you have another one just keep it wrapped as it has greater resale value. If you need to use it at a later time because the other one died you can always unwrap it.

That's how i do it. I have for example a sealed voodoo3 3000 and have the same itch to open it. But i have a couple more that are loose cards so there is no need to open it.

Some time ago i bought 2 sealed voodoo2 cards and back then i didn't have another sli set so i opened them straight away and used them.

Boxed is nice, alive and kicking in a system is what they are made for 🤣

I always think it's amazing to find an unopened box of something old like that. I'd be really tempted to keep it unopened just for the sake of it, but also the only reason you'd want to do that is so you could sell it one day for even more money. If you wouldn't want to sell it one day, then it's a bit pointless keeping it shrink-wrapped.

You might be able to find the CD images online if you want to look at the software it came with though, and as Skyscraper says, buying another one that's opened is certainly an option!

If you plan to keep it, then I wouldn't have much reservation about opening it. You'll know it's factory fresh whether it's still in shrinkwrap or not.
If you might resell it, then keeping it sealed will preserve it's value. But if resale isn't a concern, I think it would be more fun to open it.
The capacitors are probably still okay but I wouldn't be very surprised if they've gone bad. If it stays sealed for any more decades, I'd be worried about even powering it up at that point.
These cards don't have tantalums, do they? If so, I'd be really worried about those.

A few months ago I bought a 7800GS AGP card on eBay that's still sealed, but the shrinkwrap is in bad enough shape that it isn't very convincing anymore. In fact I've questioned it myself. As such it doesn't feel like much of a loss to just finish tearing it open. Only reason it's still sealed is because I haven't gotten to the point of being ready to use it yet.

Depends. Personally if I am either curious about opening it (if I want to experience it!) or just plain need one that I am sure is still alright (with just the boards you can't know what the previous woners did to it), then I'd say go ahead and open it.

If you might want to sell it later on then it's obvious you shoudl leave it as is.

But to me, what good is keeping it sealed and never cure my curiosity for a bit more money if the same money is, say, one week of work at your job?

But if you open it, record it! I mean, I've opened packages before. Granted, it was some kind of IBM software or so, but that smell! The idea that you are the very first one to actually touch it (I could add some more sentimental stuff but I'm sure you understand my point by now 😉) and know for kinda 100% sure that it's complete...saving how many days of extra work at your job is worth you to miss this rare experience?

And others kinda mentioned it, it's not a very extremely rare card anyway.

For the record, this is how I think about this. I'm not in retro computing for the money, in the end to me it's about experiencing it! 😁
And do record it! You might regret not having recorded your box opening afterwards 😜

Good luck on whatever you decide!

If I imagine how much money my sealed Star Wars toys would be worth... And then knowing the joy I had unpacking them and playing with them...
Unbox it 😉

Whatever makes you happy OP. Personally I think having unused hardware is kind of sad 🙁 These things were made to be used and enjoyed, but that AWE card never was. Personally I couldn't help myself and I would open it and run it at least a little... so it could have served it's purpose. Then again having it unopened is also kind of cool.

In my experience as long as you keep the box in good condition you won't lose that much value by opening it. You can always close it back up and the buyer will get most of the experience.

Thank you all for advice. As I do not want to sell it, I did end up opening it. And yes I did film the opening. Everything inside was sealed individually as well, the driver disks, the application CD as well as the 2 games. Very nice experience, I must admit, I would have missed that. I will keep in the box for now and preserve it (as well as its contents).

Btw, the card passed the visual inspection. I almost never seen a vintage card of that age so clean and shiny, unbelievable.

Good on you!

I remember opening the Pentium III NIB, that was pretty cool. I use the processor quite a bit, and it always brings a smile on my face knowing I'm the first owner 😀

But usually I just go for the products, without any boxes. It's cheaper and I don't have the space for boxed stuff. A few exceptions though. I have thrown out packaging before too 😊

Dominus wrote:

If I imagine how much money my sealed Star Wars toys would be worth... And then knowing the joy I had unpacking them and playing with them...
Unbox it 😉

This

Screw the haters. Toys (and let's face it, these are our toys) want to be played with!!

I sure like hardware more than boxes, even shiny retail boxes. 🤣

vladstamate wrote:

Thank you all for advice. As I do not want to sell it, I did end up opening it. And yes I did film the opening. Everything inside was sealed individually as well, the driver disks, the application CD as well as the 2 games. Very nice experience, I must admit, I would have missed that. I will keep in the box for now and preserve it (as well as its contents).

Btw, the card passed the visual inspection. I almost never seen a vintage card of that age so clean and shiny, unbelievable.

Nice! Hope you liked the experience! 😁

Yes, it's awesome to have something that old, but so new at the same time. Opening a box of something this old is a bit like a time-machine! 😁
At least, I had this experience a few times like when I opened the package of my NIB ss7 ATX board (one made by MSI) and everything is still sealed in those little tiny bags and tearing off those warning stickers 😁

I always say, if you're going to use it, open it. It isn't doing anyone any good in the box and I've always thought it probably wasn't good for the component either.

I very much enjoyed opening my VL-BUS Ethernet Card.