I think going by ebay prices is a bit silly, the best places to look is still the local Classifieds or Charity Shops, ebay is really only there if you need something asap and dont want to wait for it...

You can pick up Pentium 3 computers here for about R500 ($33.33 US) , fully working with a CRT , or if you really must go for a early Pentium 4 from R250 ( $16 ) with a crt , Pentium 4s in my opinion are still the cheapest and best Win9x systems , there are plenty available and no one wants them, Ive been given several this year.

Upgrades are just as easy to come by if you are willing to compromise, Ati X300 or a Geforce 6200 actually make great little GFX cards for Win 9x

If you are in the USA its even easier you have a ton of surplus stores, right now as I am typing this places like the Geek group are giving away C2D based computers for $50 and it will require a tiny amount of tweaking, in the UK you have ton of car boot sales.

Ebay is a last resort, ask friends or family for old computers, then hit the local classifieds.

Edit: I realise the thread is more for scratch builds , but to be honest there is no better place to get parts than from old computers 😀

nforce4max wrote:

Once again low prices of a thing of the past and many can no longer depend on local sources as they have dried up but not nice build anyway.

Most of they parts came from ebay believe it or not. That's not how I build most of my systems. I tend to get my parts were I live.

The Ausu cux4x, ram savage 4,via 1200mhz c3 and heat sink, case/psu, cd drive, LS-120 drive and Keyboard were all from eaby.

And your be hard pressed not to find old computer stuff laically so long as you don't live in a rural area or 3rd would country.
Most younger folks only know how to find stuff online anyway, no loss for me I guess.

eBay is the way to go when you look for something rare, exotic, specific or boxed. If you don't care about it and you just need it to work than you should buy stuff locally. Even then, you still can find great deals on eBay, you just have to be patient.

candle_86 wrote:

Sutekh94 wrote:

Oh yeah, I remember a decade ago you could find Pentiums, 486s, K6-2s etc. pretty easily at the dump. At least, my local dump, usually every other week or so. Managed to snag a lot of stuff from my local dumps over the years - some Pentiums including a socket 4 Packard Bell, a 386 on at least one occasion (that Gateway 2000 386 system I've talked about in a few other posts here), even a PS/2 model 30 and a complete Apple IIgs! I think it's safe to say that the supply of retro goodies has largely dried up in my area by this point... Nowadays, it's just P4s, P4s, and more P4s, most of which aren't even worth saving IMO. Heck, more often than not by this point, I find absolutely nothing of interest at the dump.

I guess it's a combination of the supply drying up and people realizing that "hey, I can actually get money off of this <insert retro rig here>!".

aint that the truth, a local person near me had a Pentium 1 100 based system with 32mb of ram and a Texas Instruments 1mb VGA. They where asking 400 for it because it was retro and thus cool. Not sure if anyone ever bought it, but it stopped showing up on Craiglist after 6 months.

There's been a guy in my area also trying to sell a P133 Packard Bell for 400 dollars but it is complete with a bunch of accessors such as steering wheel and pedals and some software. They eventually came down to 250. The ad is still on craigslist now. I got a similar system as part of a lot of 15 systems I got locally for 80 bucks it just didn't come with the CRT or accessories.

Dreamer_of_the_past wrote:

$250 is what resellers ask for custom built retro rigs and they do it for profit, therefore it's too high. You can definitely fi […]
Show full quote

$250 is what resellers ask for custom built retro rigs and they do it for profit, therefore it's too high. You can definitely find all bunch of cheaper parts if you are patient.
I just saw this system a week ago, but had no need for it and is already sold. Anyway here it is
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-CUSL2-MOTHERBOAR … cvip=true&rt=nc

This seller has all bunch of old computers for reasonable prices.

That was a good price for that system. Looking at the other items he has for sale I see most of what he has is on the high side of being reasonable. It's not a complete rip off like these sellers that are trying to sell 400 dollar dos gaming machines, but from what I am seeing a Pentium 1 or earlier is gonna go for 150 or more. The systems that he is charging 50-100 for are systems that I could get for almost nothing locally. Not bad mouthing him or anything I believe most of his stuff is priced well but not cheap.

Jade Falcon wrote:

And your be hard pressed not to find old computer stuff laically so long as you don't live in a rural area or 3rd would country.

Weren't you the self-proclaimed "cable mgmt nazi"? OK... but now I'm sure there ARE spelling nazis around here! 😜

Anyway, even "3rd world" is a bit misleading, since even in a nation with very large portions of undeveloped areas you can still have larger cities flooded with computers since the mid-90s. I'm sure there are many countries with such a wide gap 'round the globe with similar situation.

And in some areas I suspect there are *dumps* being sourced (most likely illegally) from Japan, South Korea etc. I say this because I've been seeing OEM parts that AFAIK were not commonly sold brand new in their period, like Samsung P3/440BX boards or Korean-branded ("SUMA") GF FX cards. JDM (Japan Domestic Market) stuff would often pop up in the used cameras market, but they're likely hand-carried (through the airport) so not in volume.

Oldies but goodies sound cards are also a favorite for general purpose, incl SB Audigy/2/ZS (btw expect to see more of those being dumped since they are no longer supported for Win10). Even Monster Sound MX300 cards were used for other stuff, like radio stations and karaoke booths. 😐

Point is, even used/binned stuff could still move from country to country in quantity. So next time you visit a random faraway town/village, don't be surprised if you find old computers/parts still being used here and there.

Rhuwyn wrote:

That was a good price for that system. Looking at the other items he has for sale I see most of what he has is on the high side of being reasonable.

I agree, he has and reasonable and at the same time unreasonable deals. I really think that he guesses on prices.

Dreamer_of_the_past wrote:

Rhuwyn wrote:

That was a good price for that system. Looking at the other items he has for sale I see most of what he has is on the high side of being reasonable.

I agree, he has and reasonable and at the same time unreasonable deals. I really think that he guesses on prices.

He does have a good selection of stuff for sale though kinda enjoying looking through what he has. Further to the point he's got a CTX K6-2 based system for 599 which is insane......then he's also got a Slot A Athlon 900 for 90 bucks which is a damn good deal considering how hard to find higher clocked slot A processors are.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CTX-SAK300D-BIOSTAR-M … ZkAAOSwoudW2aWE

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-K7V-REV-1-01-AMD … 1YAAOSw6btXQ4JI

What makes you people think that I am a reseller? Didn't any of you farts seen my rage posts in some recent 3DFX threads? This community is just ridiculous at times 😒

A little more faith in humanity lost well done.

nforce4max wrote:

What makes you people think that I am a reseller? Didn't any of you farts seen my rage posts in some recent 3DFX threads? This community is just ridiculous at times 😒

A little more faith in humanity lost well done.

Was it something I said? Sorry if I gave that impression. It was not my intent to say you were a reseller.

nforce4max wrote:

What makes you people think that I am a reseller? Didn't any of you farts seen my rage posts in some recent 3DFX threads? This community is just ridiculous at times 😒

A little more faith in humanity lost well done.

I must have missed the comments accusing you of such things... ?

Also: "you people"? "you farts"?

Really?

Its ok, just not stable anymore (life happens) and haven't had a break in 4 years. The stress of everything going on plus trying to rebuild my collection for the second time isn't fun.

nforce4max wrote:

Its ok, just not stable anymore (life happens) and haven't had a break in 4 years. The stress of everything going on plus trying to rebuild my collection for the second time isn't fun.

Sorry to hear that. Hope things turn around for you.