Tetrium wrote:

The type of HSF I prefer nowadays is one that looks kinda like this one http://www.gpureview.com/database/images/videocards/giga […]
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The type of HSF I prefer nowadays is one that looks kinda like this one

I also prefer this design!

If the fans have issues, they are quite easy to replace. Worst case you can find some ghetto method of slapping two large fans onto the cooler.

I had this with a 560 Ti.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Assuming one or two of them survive into that era for us to reverse-engineer in order to replicate, yes.

This. I wonder how much longer until someone (/some group of engineers, or even students) with the right knowledgebase can have 3D scanning and printing equipments in their garage/homefab that would enable them to do such project. In that case, even non-functioning copies might prove to be usable, as long as it's still physically intact.

Alternatively, we might see original designs & IPs leaked somehow... long after the players are gone. That would only make it easier for the scenario above.

Tetrium wrote:

How do hipsters fit into this?

Trust me... I have heard about those 18 to 20 year old persons, wich buy's up Voodoo cards, only to have then in a glass-display.
They only do it, because they have heard that Voodoo's have this position in retro circles (Vogons as an example).
6 months earlier, it would probably have been something else. And they brag about how much it have costed them.
It's like those people I am thinking of. Those that have not used Voodoo's nor ever will.
They only have this stuff as an ornament in their living room. And yes... Did I mention that it's the pricetag, that are the primaery
driveforce for them. They feed of other peoples "Ohhhh, that's expensive" answer to their display of whatever stuff.

Voodoo's are just an example. It could have been old 8/16 bit consoles as well.

NJRoadfan wrote:

Most gold scrappers really aren't, they are resellers. How many times have you seen a pile of card edges for sale on ebay? Those guys are just praying on the uneducated and destroying cards in the process. Modern computer hardware has so little gold and requires a ton of recovery that unless you are a fairly large recycling operation its economically unfeasible to do yourself. You also don't want to mess with the chemicals, sodium cyanide (commonly used for gold extraction) is seriously nasty stuff.

The pros aren't going to pay for small lots either, they want a huge amount of stuff in one lot. Most of the money made in recycling is for the steel, aluminum, and copper.

Ahhh.... Those are the ones wich I call recyclers. I kind of think of goldscrappers as those that only scrap for the value of the metal's.
Recyclers are, for me at least, those that are scrapping defect and non working parts.
The working parts are then restored, tested and going back into "the system" of selling and buying.
To mee, scrappers are just those that are scrapping for metals, destroying everything that has those metals in it.

brostenen wrote:

Trust me... I have heard about those 18 to 20 year old persons, wich buy's up Voodoo cards, only to have then in a glass-display […]
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Tetrium wrote:

How do hipsters fit into this?

Trust me... I have heard about those 18 to 20 year old persons, wich buy's up Voodoo cards, only to have then in a glass-display.
They only do it, because they have heard that Voodoo's have this position in retro circles (Vogons as an example).
6 months earlier, it would probably have been something else. And they brag about how much it have costed them.
It's like those people I am thinking of. Those that have not used Voodoo's nor ever will.
They only have this stuff as an ornament in their living room. And yes... Did I mention that it's the pricetag, that are the primaery
driveforce for them. They feed of other peoples "Ohhhh, that's expensive" answer to their display of whatever stuff.

Voodoo's are just an example. It could have been old 8/16 bit consoles as well.

Well, I can certainly imagine this to be the case, but ultimately it won't matter much provided these "display-voodoos" don't end up in the trash bin.

brostenen wrote:

Trust me... I have heard about those 18 to 20 year old persons, wich buy's up Voodoo cards, only to have then in a glass-display […]
Show full quote

Tetrium wrote:

How do hipsters fit into this?

Trust me... I have heard about those 18 to 20 year old persons, wich buy's up Voodoo cards, only to have then in a glass-display.
They only do it, because they have heard that Voodoo's have this position in retro circles (Vogons as an example).
6 months earlier, it would probably have been something else. And they brag about how much it have costed them.
It's like those people I am thinking of. Those that have not used Voodoo's nor ever will.
They only have this stuff as an ornament in their living room. And yes... Did I mention that it's the pricetag, that are the primaery
driveforce for them. They feed of other peoples "Ohhhh, that's expensive" answer to their display of whatever stuff.

Voodoo's are just an example. It could have been old 8/16 bit consoles as well.

Um... I have held onto a lot of old CPUs from 2005 when I found a bunch in a shop (mostly gold-top models). This was before I had the retro computing bug properly and I thought "hey these look really nice how can I used them". I was going to encase them in resin and make coasters out of them - you know, that you would put your beer or cup of tea on. I thought it would make quite a good business idea!! No I look back at this idea I'm like "WHAT WAS I THINKING!!?!?!" but that's just it - we only see scrapping of old parts as sacrilege in the same way that someone who loves the environment feels when a tree is chopped down. To most people it's just a tree but to someone it is important. There are very few of us actual enthusiasts and many more people who just see obsolete equipment.

As for the gold scrappers argument, these are people doing a job. They have always existed in the modern world. What's really significant is government policy about the disposal of e-waste:

http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/15/apple-recy … d-makes-profit/

It became apparent after this article that nearly none of the devices they recycled were Apple devices - companies with recycling quotas are destroying whatever they can get their hands on.

Funny you should mention that CPU idea you had. Someone back around the same time, asked me, if I was interrested in collecting all sort of CPU's to make a sort of "painting" with them. You know... Taking one of the prefabricated glass-frame, and having all the CPU's sitting next to one another. To me, it will only work if all the CPU's were dead ones.

Tetrium wrote:

Well, I can certainly imagine this to be the case, but ultimately it won't matter much provided these "display-voodoos" don't end up in the trash bin.

True... Yet a complete waste of good gaming-time, when we are dealing with these people. You know... Those that are not actually gaming or owning any other old hardware. Those that are retro-gaming, though not the old games. You know... The iPhone generation kind of types, that are gaming new versions of old games as the only games as casual gaming. Those that are owning pacman/space invaders tshirts and Doom coffee mugs. Those that are telling everyone that old games were better, yet not even playing those old games. Those are the ones that I call Hipsters.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

I live in the center of Rural Southern Illinios, aka Farmland

My condolences. I'm stuck in the 'burbs near Chicago. I've been planning my escape for years.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Can someone clue me into where people are finding all these cards for the prices mentioned? I can't even find another GeForce256 on eBay so i know its not there.

Patience is the key. Be prepared to wait months for a good deal. You need to check eBay at least once daily. If possible, check several times daily. Good deals often don't last long, so you need to act quickly if you find one. You also need to be prepared to walk away from a deal that isn't good, so you can wait for a better one.

Two years ago, I finally scored an ABIT BH6 v1.1 on eBay for $15, shipped. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I had been patiently watching for a deal like that since 2004. My patience paid off. The board was in good condition and I had fun building a system around it with a rare 1Ghz 100Mhz FSB Slot 1 Coppermine.

I also watch for various spare parts to keep my systems going.

Two weeks ago, I watched a Gainward Ti4600 Golden Sample sell for $15.

Last week, I saw a 6800 GT for $19, shipped, BIN. It was a good deal so it was gone very quickly after I saw it.

Right now, there's an Asus FX 5900 Ultra that looks like it could sell for only ~$20.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

so i never see PC parts used (and when i do its on craigslist and there asking 50 dollars for a 5 year old mid-end Radeon) so i pretty much get everything online.

CL is good for some things, not so good for others. For components, it's awful. I've only once gotten a luke-warm deal on some video cards. For larger items, CL can be quite good. For example, it's very good for getting complete old systems. Here's what you do:

Make up an ad stating that you haul away old junk computers for recycling for free. You'll get lots of people wanting you to come pick up their old stuff. Of course, you actually have to go get the stuff, sort it out, and then have a way of disposing of the parts you don't want. There are guys on CL that do this as their jobs and sell the spare parts on eBay, CL, etc.

CL is also great for CRT monitors and complete old desktop PCs. Again, patience is the key. Check at least daily. I found my Dell Dimension 4100 for $10 on CL. Watch the Free section. I've scored lots of monitors, a nice old beige case, and even a complete working Athlon XP system for free.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

I have won a few auctions for decent prices before (I think i got my HTPC's GTX260 Core216SC for 15 shipped) but I never see auctions for the older stuff. Mostly just BINs from computer recyclers at unreasonable prices (i guess they think there rare, even when there common OEM models?).

When searching eBay, you also have to be clever. For example, don't search for "GTX260 Core216SC". Set up several daily searches for "gtx 260", "nvidia 260", "video 260", "260 card", etc. Also, don't be afraid to search for misspellings: "gxt 260", "radeon 260".

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

I don't know. All i know is i bought my 9800GX2 for 25 (which was about average) back in January and now there going for 50+. I don't understand that trend.

Q: How much is something worth?
A: Whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.

The reason you have BINs for crazy prices is because sellers know that patience will reward them. Eventually, some fool will pay them $50 for a card that is worth $10. Don't be that fool. Be patient. Wait for a seller who has the item you want at the price you want to pay.

There is also the theory that some of those "auctions" are actually money laundering schemes. I dunno about that...

Re: Hipsters - F you and your stupid man-buns and beards. You look ridiculous, and I say this as somebody who proudly wore a mullet in the late 80s. Vinyl sucked then; it still sucks now. There's a reason that optical media replaced it. Now get off my lawn!

brostenen wrote:

True... Yet a complete waste of good gaming-time, when we are dealing with these people. You know... Those that are not actually gaming or owning any other old hardware. Those that are retro-gaming, though not the old games. You know... The iPhone generation kind of types, that are gaming new versions of old games as the only games as casual gaming. Those that are owning pacman/space invaders tshirts and Doom coffee mugs. Those that are telling everyone that old games were better, yet not even playing those old games. Those are the ones that I call Hipsters.

DOOM mugs you say? Oh noes! Claiming to have played a game when they in fact have not? Dastardly!

😵

There are lots of views on this. Time vs money is one way I see it.

I'm fortunate to have money, but lack time, so for me it's fine to spend a bit more. But I don't have the time to spend hours searching and months of waiting. There needs to be a balance, waiting years to save 50 or 100 bucks for example isn't good value IMO, but everyone sees that differently. Some people like to put a $ figure on their own time if that helps. And what $ figure can you put on the experience of having and using it?

But I agree that BIN is a poor guide. They are skimming the market, so if BIN prices are outrageous, I just pass and go with another option. And cheaper BIN auctions do come up all the time. Save a search and it will find it.

What it won't find are miss-labelled items, or a V5 in a bundle or box of other parts. Here investing lots of time can pay off.

The real bargains are items you get for free. Simply because people know that you're into old computers. That will just happen over time with nothing you have to do 😀

badmojo wrote:

DOOM mugs you say? Oh noes! Claiming to have played a game when they in fact have not? Dastardly!
😵

Yes... Those people. They are like vampires, only you can kill them with the sound of a pc-speaker instead of garlic. 🤣

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

There are lots of views on this. Time vs money is one way I see it. […]
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There are lots of views on this. Time vs money is one way I see it.

I'm fortunate to have money, but lack time, so for me it's fine to spend a bit more. But I don't have the time to spend hours searching and months of waiting. There needs to be a balance, waiting years to save 50 or 100 bucks for example isn't good value IMO, but everyone sees that differently. Some people like to put a $ figure on their own time if that helps. And what $ figure can you put on the experience of having and using it?

But I agree that BIN is a poor guide. They are skimming the market, so if BIN prices are outrageous, I just pass and go with another option. And cheaper BIN auctions do come up all the time. Save a search and it will find it.

What it won't find are miss-labelled items, or a V5 in a bundle or box of other parts. Here investing lots of time can pay off.

The real bargains are items you get for free. Simply because people know that you're into old computers. That will just happen over time with nothing you have to do 😀

I have all the time I need, to search for stuff. I lack the money instead.
As to why my everyday driver is an Acer Extensa 5235 from 2010.

If your into retro computing; face facts, your an extreme minority and its a really niche community. I don't know about other countries but in Australia people have been ditching this hardware curbside over the last 10-15 years and every day this hardware becomes more scarce.

People like wiredofservice exist on eBay because of supply and demand but more importantly people actually pay those insane prices! (THAT boggles my mind)

The retro hardware specialist / enthusiast isn't a 16 year old teenager. Its a male aged between 28-50 years old at an estimate? Cashed up? Or at least been busting there ass in the workforce for a while now.

I don't blame the gold scrapers because people have been throwing out this hardware for a while. Still there are amazing deals to be had if your committed and persevere or are just extremely lucky.

I think I hit the motherload today!

How many of you think the "VOGONS eBay promotional thread" *DOESN'T* drive up prices? Without a doubt it does.

rgart wrote:

Its a male aged between 28-50 years old at an estimate? Cashed up? Or at least been busting there ass in the workforce for a while now.

Can't speak for other's. I don't have that much money, as I am retired before time (health issues), and I am 40 years of age.
So yeah... Basically a retro-head, using all time on hunting for stuff that might not even be there at all.
Most of my time is being spent on keeping the home nice and clean. Rest of the time is being spent on my woman and computers.

I think demand for high-end Windows XP stuff is starting to pick up, like a lot of people here have predicted will happen for ages. I know that LinusTechTips, a popular tech channel with almost 3 million subs, recently did a video about the rebuilding of his first gaming PC, which had an Athlon XP 2500+. That alone could be a factor causing demand to rise.

rgart wrote:

The retro hardware specialist / enthusiast isn't a 16 year old teenager. Its a male aged between 28-50 years old at an estimate? Cashed up? Or at least been busting there ass in the workforce for a while now.

With extremely rare exceptions, of course. Case in point, I'm 17. Apologies for sounding like some kid looking for attention but my point is, you're right that the vast majority of enthusiasts are adults skewing middle-aged because usually they actually grew up with real hardware and want to keep that experience. If a teenager today wants to play a DOS game, which is already a rare predicament anyhow, they can just install DOSbox and play it right away. With that convenience at their hands, extremely few millenials will go to the trouble of locating working original hardware and means of loading software on it.

badmojo wrote:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

The goldscrappers thing isn't Juvenile at all...

How's that? When presented with an opportunity to make a buck by scrapping what most people consider to be ewaste, you're expecting the guy who needs a buck to say "actually no, I won't do the scrapping thing because there might be a collector out there who wants maybe 1 out of a thousand of these cards"

It is when the vast majority of them don't know what they have and destroy all they can get without ever checking to see what is really worth saving. In many ways they are losing a Lot of money by not cleaning up the few things worth saving and putting them on the market. It doesn't take but three brain cells to rub together just to do a quick google search. It is like going into a junk yard and scraping all the vintage cars from the 20s to the 40s and not giving a damn that there is a Duesenberg in the lot.

How would you feel if you watched as someone scraped a working voodoo 5 6000 just for the gold content....

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

I also prefer this design! […]
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Tetrium wrote:

The type of HSF I prefer nowadays is one that looks kinda like this one http://www.gpureview.com/database/images/videocards/giga […]
Show full quote

The type of HSF I prefer nowadays is one that looks kinda like this one

I also prefer this design!

If the fans have issues, they are quite easy to replace. Worst case you can find some ghetto method of slapping two large fans onto the cooler.

I had this with a 560 Ti.

I did that to my old GTX460 with two 65cfm 80mm fans 😎
Had no problems running the card at 950mhz or so for a Long time after and I also did a vrm cooling mod that helped a lot.

rgart wrote:

If your into retro computing; face facts, your an extreme minority and its a really niche community. I don't know about other c […]
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If your into retro computing; face facts, your an extreme minority and its a really niche community. I don't know about other countries but in Australia people have been ditching this hardware curbside over the last 10-15 years and every day this hardware becomes more scarce.

People like wiredofservice exist on eBay because of supply and demand but more importantly people actually pay those insane prices! (THAT boggles my mind)

The retro hardware specialist / enthusiast isn't a 16 year old teenager. Its a male aged between 28-50 years old at an estimate? Cashed up? Or at least been busting there ass in the workforce for a while now.

I don't blame the gold scrapers because people have been throwing out this hardware for a while. Still there are amazing deals to be had if your committed and persevere or are just extremely lucky.

I think I hit the motherload today!

How many of you think the "VOGONS eBay promotional thread" *DOESN'T* drive up prices? Without a doubt it does.

Well there is some good news there are more people my age (millennials) and younger getting into this hobby 😉
Better start collecting XP and Win7 era hardware before prices start to trickle up.

ElementalChaos wrote:

I think demand for high-end Windows XP stuff is starting to pick up, like a lot of people here have predicted will happen for ages. I know that LinusTechTips, a popular tech channel with almost 3 million subs, recently did a video about the rebuilding of his first gaming PC, which had an Athlon XP 2500+. That alone could be a factor causing demand to rise.

rgart wrote:

The retro hardware specialist / enthusiast isn't a 16 year old teenager. Its a male aged between 28-50 years old at an estimate? Cashed up? Or at least been busting there ass in the workforce for a while now.

With extremely rare exceptions, of course. Case in point, I'm 17. Apologies for sounding like some kid looking for attention but my point is, you're right that the vast majority of enthusiasts are adults skewing middle-aged because usually they actually grew up with real hardware and want to keep that experience. If a teenager today wants to play a DOS game, which is already a rare predicament anyhow, they can just install DOSbox and play it right away. With that convenience at their hands, extremely few millenials will go to the trouble of locating working original hardware and means of loading software on it.

I am a millennial 😉
Don't write us 20 somethings off yet. 😀