Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 05:02:

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 04:50:

9800GX2 ..nice card if it works !

Yeah, I haven't used a GX2 of any kind since my brief stint with a 7950GX2 back in 2006, so I am interested to try it out. I was really happy to see that it is entirely encased in metal and plastic. If it isn't defective it should work fine. Most cards of this era are heavy and have all those fragile components exposed on the back. Not this thing! 😁

The GX2 does have a weird habit of the secondary (upper) DVI port dying though. IIRC the heat from the heatsink blower setup bakes the signal controller for that port. The other 2 ports on the main PCB don't have that issue. 9800GX2 is kind of different from other dual GPU cards in that its 2 PCBs sandwiched together with a beefy SLI interconnect: https://www.techpowerup.com/50961/nvidia-gefo … dismantled?cp=2

GTX 295, GTX 590, and GTX 690 along with all AMD Dual GPU cards are 2 chips on a single PCB.

Monsterous card, I daily drove one for a couple of months once when my GTX 470 died (which was itself due to my 780Ti dying which I later brought back to life). Played War Thunder, Insurgency and CSGO fine in 2018 🤣

EDIT: Also ffs when did these become worth $80 USD? I paid $20 shipped for mine like 5 years ago.

IIRC the 295 also had a dual board model, I might be wrong but I swear I remember there being one that used the 285 dies and had 4gb of shared memory instead of the 280 ones. (Possibly one of the crazy ASUS Mars models)

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 05:14:

The GX2 does have a weird habit of the secondary (upper) DVI port dying though. IIRC the heat from the heatsink blower setup bak […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 05:02:

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 04:50:

9800GX2 ..nice card if it works !

Yeah, I haven't used a GX2 of any kind since my brief stint with a 7950GX2 back in 2006, so I am interested to try it out. I was really happy to see that it is entirely encased in metal and plastic. If it isn't defective it should work fine. Most cards of this era are heavy and have all those fragile components exposed on the back. Not this thing! 😁

The GX2 does have a weird habit of the secondary (upper) DVI port dying though. IIRC the heat from the heatsink blower setup bakes the signal controller for that port. The other 2 ports on the main PCB don't have that issue. 9800GX2 is kind of different from other dual GPU cards in that its 2 PCBs sandwiched together with a beefy SLI interconnect: https://www.techpowerup.com/50961/nvidia-gefo … dismantled?cp=2

GTX 295, GTX 590, and GTX 690 along with all AMD Dual GPU cards are 2 chips on a single PCB.

Monsterous card, I daily drove one for a couple of months once when my GTX 470 died (which was itself due to my 780Ti dying which I later brought back to life). Played War Thunder, Insurgency and CSGO fine in 2018 🤣

EDIT: Also ffs when did these become worth $80 USD? I paid $20 shipped for mine like 5 years ago.

Good to know about that DVI port. I'll keep an eye on that.

Also, the 7950GX2 I had back in the day was a dual PCB card as well. I think most people just wiped those from memory because the 8800GTX came out just 5 months later and made absolutely everything else on the market completely irrelevant. Selling the GX2 and buying an 8800GTX was a no-brainer at the time. Still the absolute most I've ever spent on a single PC component though. 😬

As for the price... they're becoming more scarce. This lot is a perfect example of why. These and probably dozens of other cards were being scrapped by this one seller, and they definitely aren't the only ones doing it. I don't dare make a prediction as to how the value\price of things like this will change, but they have been and continue to be discarded rapidly because almost no one cares about cards from this era at the moment. Generally, they do nothing that a 2-6 year newer card can't do better. A mid to high end Kepler card should run almost anything that these will, and do it far far faster and more efficiently. Some weird people will still want to grab them up though, so the ones that don't get scrapped will become some younger generation's Voodoo2 SLI setup.... meaning, very little reason to actually do it, but people will be drawn to it anyway due to nostalgia or some very very niche use case (like, one game that looks slightly better on one specific card).

Anyway, the 7950GX2 totally killed any desire I had for SLI *for good*. It was so inconsistent and hot running. I could never afford any of the later GX2 or Radeon X2 models after that, so it was never a big deal for me, but I wouldn't have bought them anyway. I am curious to see what the 9800GX2 can actually pull off in later games though. The VRAM limitation and the lack of support for DX11 are going to really limit the uses, but I'm sure there are some titles that will run on it anyway.

I don't even have a PCI-E test setup right now because I just don't do anything with them unless they're going right into another computer, but I will be setting one up soon. I will most likely use my previous PC which has an MSI P67 board, 2500K at 4.2Ghz and a brand new EVGA 650GT power supply. Should handle just about anything I throw at it... except for actual two-card SLI. That won't be happening any time soon.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 06:08:

Good to know about that DVI port. I'll keep an eye on that. […]
Show full quote

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 05:14:

The GX2 does have a weird habit of the secondary (upper) DVI port dying though. IIRC the heat from the heatsink blower setup bak […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 05:02:

Yeah, I haven't used a GX2 of any kind since my brief stint with a 7950GX2 back in 2006, so I am interested to try it out. I was really happy to see that it is entirely encased in metal and plastic. If it isn't defective it should work fine. Most cards of this era are heavy and have all those fragile components exposed on the back. Not this thing! 😁

The GX2 does have a weird habit of the secondary (upper) DVI port dying though. IIRC the heat from the heatsink blower setup bakes the signal controller for that port. The other 2 ports on the main PCB don't have that issue. 9800GX2 is kind of different from other dual GPU cards in that its 2 PCBs sandwiched together with a beefy SLI interconnect: https://www.techpowerup.com/50961/nvidia-gefo … dismantled?cp=2

GTX 295, GTX 590, and GTX 690 along with all AMD Dual GPU cards are 2 chips on a single PCB.

Monsterous card, I daily drove one for a couple of months once when my GTX 470 died (which was itself due to my 780Ti dying which I later brought back to life). Played War Thunder, Insurgency and CSGO fine in 2018 🤣

EDIT: Also ffs when did these become worth $80 USD? I paid $20 shipped for mine like 5 years ago.

Good to know about that DVI port. I'll keep an eye on that.

Also, the 7950GX2 I had back in the day was a dual PCB card as well. I think most people just wiped those from memory because the 8800GTX came out just 5 months later and made absolutely everything else on the market completely irrelevant. Selling the GX2 and buying an 8800GTX was a no-brainer at the time. Still the absolute most I've ever spent on a single PC component though. 😬

As for the price... they're becoming more scarce. This lot is a perfect example of why. These and probably dozens of other cards were being scrapped by this one seller, and they definitely aren't the only ones doing it. I don't dare make a prediction as to how the value\price of things like this will change, but they have been and continue to be discarded rapidly because almost no one cares about cards from this era at the moment. Generally, they do nothing that a 2-6 year newer card can't do better. A mid to high end Kepler card should run almost anything that these will, and do it far far faster and more efficiently. Some weird people will still want to grab them up though, so the ones that don't get scrapped will become some younger generation's Voodoo2 SLI setup.... meaning, very little reason to actually do it, but people will be drawn to it anyway due to nostalgia or some very very niche use case (like, one game that looks slightly better on one specific card).

Anyway, the 7950GX2 totally killed any desire I had for SLI *for good*. It was so inconsistent and hot running. I could never afford any of the later GX2 or Radeon X2 models after that, so it was never a big deal for me, but I wouldn't have bought them anyway. I am curious to see what the 9800GX2 can actually pull off in later games though. The VRAM limitation and the lack of support for DX11 are going to really limit the uses, but I'm sure there are some titles that will run on it anyway.

I don't even have a PCI-E test setup right now because I just don't do anything with them unless they're going right into another computer, but I will be setting one up soon. I will most likely use my previous PC which has an MSI P67 board, 2500K at 4.2Ghz and a brand new EVGA 650GT power supply. Should handle just about anything I throw at it... except for actual two-card SLI. That won't be happening any time soon.

Oh shit I just now saw the lot post. Nice score!

Also, on the 9700s if I may direct your attention here: Radeon 9700 Pro on the way out?

Pull the coolers, and repaste them before you test them. I'd even say go as far as hit all the RAM chips with the heat gun first (to release any built up tension in the BGAs)

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:27:

Oh shit I just now saw the lot post. Nice score! […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 06:08:

Good to know about that DVI port. I'll keep an eye on that. […]
Show full quote

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 05:14:

The GX2 does have a weird habit of the secondary (upper) DVI port dying though. IIRC the heat from the heatsink blower setup bak […]
Show full quote

The GX2 does have a weird habit of the secondary (upper) DVI port dying though. IIRC the heat from the heatsink blower setup bakes the signal controller for that port. The other 2 ports on the main PCB don't have that issue. 9800GX2 is kind of different from other dual GPU cards in that its 2 PCBs sandwiched together with a beefy SLI interconnect: https://www.techpowerup.com/50961/nvidia-gefo … dismantled?cp=2

GTX 295, GTX 590, and GTX 690 along with all AMD Dual GPU cards are 2 chips on a single PCB.

Monsterous card, I daily drove one for a couple of months once when my GTX 470 died (which was itself due to my 780Ti dying which I later brought back to life). Played War Thunder, Insurgency and CSGO fine in 2018 🤣

EDIT: Also ffs when did these become worth $80 USD? I paid $20 shipped for mine like 5 years ago.

Good to know about that DVI port. I'll keep an eye on that.

Also, the 7950GX2 I had back in the day was a dual PCB card as well. I think most people just wiped those from memory because the 8800GTX came out just 5 months later and made absolutely everything else on the market completely irrelevant. Selling the GX2 and buying an 8800GTX was a no-brainer at the time. Still the absolute most I've ever spent on a single PC component though. 😬

As for the price... they're becoming more scarce. This lot is a perfect example of why. These and probably dozens of other cards were being scrapped by this one seller, and they definitely aren't the only ones doing it. I don't dare make a prediction as to how the value\price of things like this will change, but they have been and continue to be discarded rapidly because almost no one cares about cards from this era at the moment. Generally, they do nothing that a 2-6 year newer card can't do better. A mid to high end Kepler card should run almost anything that these will, and do it far far faster and more efficiently. Some weird people will still want to grab them up though, so the ones that don't get scrapped will become some younger generation's Voodoo2 SLI setup.... meaning, very little reason to actually do it, but people will be drawn to it anyway due to nostalgia or some very very niche use case (like, one game that looks slightly better on one specific card).

Anyway, the 7950GX2 totally killed any desire I had for SLI *for good*. It was so inconsistent and hot running. I could never afford any of the later GX2 or Radeon X2 models after that, so it was never a big deal for me, but I wouldn't have bought them anyway. I am curious to see what the 9800GX2 can actually pull off in later games though. The VRAM limitation and the lack of support for DX11 are going to really limit the uses, but I'm sure there are some titles that will run on it anyway.

I don't even have a PCI-E test setup right now because I just don't do anything with them unless they're going right into another computer, but I will be setting one up soon. I will most likely use my previous PC which has an MSI P67 board, 2500K at 4.2Ghz and a brand new EVGA 650GT power supply. Should handle just about anything I throw at it... except for actual two-card SLI. That won't be happening any time soon.

Oh shit I just now saw the lot post. Nice score!

Also, on the 9700s if I may direct your attention here: Radeon 9700 Pro on the way out?

Pull the coolers, and repaste them before you test them. I'd even say go as far as hit all the RAM chips with the heat gun first (to release any built up tension in the BGAs)

IF the 9700 looks burnt/got too hot then its likely its already beyond saving.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:30:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:27:

Oh shit I just now saw the lot post. Nice score! […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 06:08:

Good to know about that DVI port. I'll keep an eye on that. […]
Show full quote

Good to know about that DVI port. I'll keep an eye on that.

Also, the 7950GX2 I had back in the day was a dual PCB card as well. I think most people just wiped those from memory because the 8800GTX came out just 5 months later and made absolutely everything else on the market completely irrelevant. Selling the GX2 and buying an 8800GTX was a no-brainer at the time. Still the absolute most I've ever spent on a single PC component though. 😬

As for the price... they're becoming more scarce. This lot is a perfect example of why. These and probably dozens of other cards were being scrapped by this one seller, and they definitely aren't the only ones doing it. I don't dare make a prediction as to how the value\price of things like this will change, but they have been and continue to be discarded rapidly because almost no one cares about cards from this era at the moment. Generally, they do nothing that a 2-6 year newer card can't do better. A mid to high end Kepler card should run almost anything that these will, and do it far far faster and more efficiently. Some weird people will still want to grab them up though, so the ones that don't get scrapped will become some younger generation's Voodoo2 SLI setup.... meaning, very little reason to actually do it, but people will be drawn to it anyway due to nostalgia or some very very niche use case (like, one game that looks slightly better on one specific card).

Anyway, the 7950GX2 totally killed any desire I had for SLI *for good*. It was so inconsistent and hot running. I could never afford any of the later GX2 or Radeon X2 models after that, so it was never a big deal for me, but I wouldn't have bought them anyway. I am curious to see what the 9800GX2 can actually pull off in later games though. The VRAM limitation and the lack of support for DX11 are going to really limit the uses, but I'm sure there are some titles that will run on it anyway.

I don't even have a PCI-E test setup right now because I just don't do anything with them unless they're going right into another computer, but I will be setting one up soon. I will most likely use my previous PC which has an MSI P67 board, 2500K at 4.2Ghz and a brand new EVGA 650GT power supply. Should handle just about anything I throw at it... except for actual two-card SLI. That won't be happening any time soon.

Oh shit I just now saw the lot post. Nice score!

Also, on the 9700s if I may direct your attention here: Radeon 9700 Pro on the way out?

Pull the coolers, and repaste them before you test them. I'd even say go as far as hit all the RAM chips with the heat gun first (to release any built up tension in the BGAs)

IF the 9700 looks burnt/got too hot then its likely its already beyond saving.

You'd be amazed the garbage GPUs I've had that worked and the number of NIB ones that didn't.

I have a GeForce2MX somewhere that has an area about the size of a penny on the back side burnt to charcoal that still works fine.

It really makes no sense sometimes, and its truly perplexing.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:44:

You'd be amazed the garbage GPUs I've had that worked and the number of NIB ones that didn't. […]
Show full quote

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:30:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:27:

Oh shit I just now saw the lot post. Nice score!

Also, on the 9700s if I may direct your attention here: Radeon 9700 Pro on the way out?

Pull the coolers, and repaste them before you test them. I'd even say go as far as hit all the RAM chips with the heat gun first (to release any built up tension in the BGAs)

IF the 9700 looks burnt/got too hot then its likely its already beyond saving.

You'd be amazed the garbage GPUs I've had that worked and the number of NIB ones that didn't.

I have a GeForce2MX somewhere that has an area about the size of a penny on the back side burnt to charcoal that still works fine.

It really makes no sense sometimes, and its truly perplexing.

Well in defense of the GF2 MX ..they built them cards like tanks since they were for office use .. wouldn't be surprised if you could run them without heat sinks for a good while.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:46:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:44:

You'd be amazed the garbage GPUs I've had that worked and the number of NIB ones that didn't. […]
Show full quote

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 07:30:

IF the 9700 looks burnt/got too hot then its likely its already beyond saving.

You'd be amazed the garbage GPUs I've had that worked and the number of NIB ones that didn't.

I have a GeForce2MX somewhere that has an area about the size of a penny on the back side burnt to charcoal that still works fine.

It really makes no sense sometimes, and its truly perplexing.

Well in defense of the GF2 MX ..they built them cards like tanks since they were for office use .. wouldn't be surprised if you could run them without heat sinks for a good while.

Actually, many OEM GeForce 2 MX cards were shipped without heatsinks. I have had several of them come in this way totally clean, with no sign of ever having had a cooler attached.

I don't know why some full MX (not MX 200) cards seem to be built to handle this while most MX and even MX200 models ran hot with heatsinks and a few even had fans. Either there was a different chip revision at some point that could do it without overheating, some cards were undervolted or some card designs had different thermal mass/layout and managed to stay functional that way.

Anyway, yes MX cards are tanks and are among the most likely to work when found in scrap lots. Very few components to get damaged, very few defects and generally no fan to go bad. Too bad they're so boring. 😂

I have a couple of GeForce 2 MXs. Despite then being the bottom of the barrel performance-wise for the generation, these are actually excellent cards. They have fantastic OpenGL and DirectX support, performance is greatly improved over the former TNT2 models, and they will generally "just work". These are definitely my favorite cards for test benches and a great choice for basic builds. The ATI Rage 128 Pro is also good, but the GF2 MX is just all-around better. It's also fairly cheap to find; and definitely not to be overlooked.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-03-15, 09:20:

I have a couple of GeForce 2 MXs. Despite then being the bottom of the barrel performance-wise for the generation, these are actually excellent cards. They have fantastic OpenGL and DirectX support, performance is greatly improved over the former TNT2 models, and they will generally "just work". These are definitely my favorite cards for test benches and a great choice for basic builds. The ATI Rage 128 Pro is also good, but the GF2 MX is just all-around better. It's also fairly cheap to find; and definitely not to be overlooked.

I have a soft spot for GF2 MX400 cards the 64MB DDR models are crazily reliable and can take some serious abuse and keep on trucking, they are also perfect cards for quake 1/2/3 or unreal LAN boxes. Actually they are pretty much perfect for period games that don't require Pixel Shaders.

I agree. Very solid cards for Windows 98. There is the caveat that some DirectX 5 titles start to have problems after the TNT2 series, Incoming, for example, but there are very few of these kinds of exceptions.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-03-15, 10:38:

I agree. Very solid cards for Windows 98. There is the caveat that some DirectX 5 titles start to have problems after the TNT2 series, Incoming, for example, but there are very few of these kinds of exceptions.

Yeah . .some of them early Direct3D games can be a bit weird with their implementation, no good fix for them either other than to have a spare TnT or Riva 128ZX sitting around for them.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 04:46:

Oh boy... what did I do to myself this time? Just a week or two ago we had a discussion here regarding DX10 era cards starting t […]
Show full quote

Oh boy... what did I do to myself this time? Just a week or two ago we had a discussion here regarding DX10 era cards starting to become scarce and maybe having some niche use cases in the near future. Just a few days later, what do I find?

yikes1.jpg

Uhg... why why why. I could have just bought the two FX 5950 Ultras and been on my way, but no. These were sold as scrap, and I'm sure would have ended up as such eventually. There were even more 8800GT\9800GT cards and many more DX10-DX11 era cards without their coolers attached (and the seller said they were already thrown away), but the weight and size of this lot was getting absurd as it was, so I had to let them go.

They were apparently recently pulled from systems, so they have not been thrashing around in a scrap heap for a 15-20 years. I fully expected some damage, and there is some, but it isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it'd be. I would say only 2-3 have enough SMD damage to be hopeless without a ton of work. Some have no SMD damage, others just have 1-3 components chipped off... I'm really hoping they're just EMI filters that aren't needed for operation. Until I start testing them out I have no idea if even a single one works, but I have a feeling that most of them will... even if they require a tiny bit of soldering work to get to that point. And I did specifically grab an extra 8800GTX that had been stripped of it's cooler, simply to use as a parts board for the others... or if it's in better shape, maybe just move one of the coolers onto it and use one of the others as a parts board.

What is in the lot:
3x MSI 8800GTX
2x EVGA 9800GTX+
4x PNY GTX 285
2x PNY 8800GTX
1x PNY 9800 GX2 (what a monster of a card! It's built like a solid metal brick. Absolutely no way these can get SMD damage!)
2x EVGA GTX 580
ASUS GTX 1050 2GB
2x Nvidia OEM Geforce FX 5950 Ultra (amazingly, at a quick glance they appear to be undamaged except for one bent cap on the top)
1x ATI All In Wonder 9700 Pro 128MB (looks like it got a bit hot at some point, not expecting it to work)
3x XFX 6800 XTreme 256MB (all three have bad caps but they are through-hole and shouldn't be hard to replace... one card is still in the plastic!)

Bare Cards:
1x PNY 8800GTX
1x Quadro FX 1000 (NV30GL; underclocked FX 5800)
1x Visiontek Geforce 3 (original)
1x All in Wonder 9700 Pro 128MB (completely different layout than the other, but marked the same)
1x ASUS 9980 Ultra FX 5950 Ultra (seems basically intact! Just needs cooling)

I probably won't go too crazy with this stuff right now, but I'll do some testing, mark which ones work, what repairs the others need and just tinker with them as time allows in the future. If the GTX 1050 works it will probably end up in some older Optiplex which I can resell locally as an entry level gaming PC and then pay off the entire cost of this lot... yay. 😁

Finally, I also got this in the mail today. Got it for a very fair price considering how scarce they are.
IBM\Tecmar ARPA PC sound card (~1989)
Tecmar ARPA PC.jpg
I'm really looking forward to tinkering with it! I believe this is now the oldest PC sound card I own. Based on some discussions online I guess with the right drivers it will do something not entirely unlike Adlib and Sound Blaster emulation. Neat. 😁

Ozzuneoj > Nice stash ..... I started testing the Macbook's ... I had one that started fine (just need a password) , the G4 pb needs a screen , and now let's see the 2006-2008 2.16ghz Core Duo model.... second one started up fine

L.E. 3rd is fine (2.16 core duo)

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-03-15, 10:43:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-15, 04:46:

Oh boy... what did I do to myself this time? Just a week or two ago we had a discussion here regarding DX10 era cards starting t […]
Show full quote

Oh boy... what did I do to myself this time? Just a week or two ago we had a discussion here regarding DX10 era cards starting to become scarce and maybe having some niche use cases in the near future. Just a few days later, what do I find?

yikes1.jpg

Uhg... why why why. I could have just bought the two FX 5950 Ultras and been on my way, but no. These were sold as scrap, and I'm sure would have ended up as such eventually. There were even more 8800GT\9800GT cards and many more DX10-DX11 era cards without their coolers attached (and the seller said they were already thrown away), but the weight and size of this lot was getting absurd as it was, so I had to let them go.

They were apparently recently pulled from systems, so they have not been thrashing around in a scrap heap for a 15-20 years. I fully expected some damage, and there is some, but it isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it'd be. I would say only 2-3 have enough SMD damage to be hopeless without a ton of work. Some have no SMD damage, others just have 1-3 components chipped off... I'm really hoping they're just EMI filters that aren't needed for operation. Until I start testing them out I have no idea if even a single one works, but I have a feeling that most of them will... even if they require a tiny bit of soldering work to get to that point. And I did specifically grab an extra 8800GTX that had been stripped of it's cooler, simply to use as a parts board for the others... or if it's in better shape, maybe just move one of the coolers onto it and use one of the others as a parts board.

What is in the lot:
3x MSI 8800GTX
2x EVGA 9800GTX+
4x PNY GTX 285
2x PNY 8800GTX
1x PNY 9800 GX2 (what a monster of a card! It's built like a solid metal brick. Absolutely no way these can get SMD damage!)
2x EVGA GTX 580
ASUS GTX 1050 2GB
2x Nvidia OEM Geforce FX 5950 Ultra (amazingly, at a quick glance they appear to be undamaged except for one bent cap on the top)
1x ATI All In Wonder 9700 Pro 128MB (looks like it got a bit hot at some point, not expecting it to work)
3x XFX 6800 XTreme 256MB (all three have bad caps but they are through-hole and shouldn't be hard to replace... one card is still in the plastic!)

Bare Cards:
1x PNY 8800GTX
1x Quadro FX 1000 (NV30GL; underclocked FX 5800)
1x Visiontek Geforce 3 (original)
1x All in Wonder 9700 Pro 128MB (completely different layout than the other, but marked the same)
1x ASUS 9980 Ultra FX 5950 Ultra (seems basically intact! Just needs cooling)

I probably won't go too crazy with this stuff right now, but I'll do some testing, mark which ones work, what repairs the others need and just tinker with them as time allows in the future. If the GTX 1050 works it will probably end up in some older Optiplex which I can resell locally as an entry level gaming PC and then pay off the entire cost of this lot... yay. 😁

Finally, I also got this in the mail today. Got it for a very fair price considering how scarce they are.
IBM\Tecmar ARPA PC sound card (~1989)
Tecmar ARPA PC.jpg
I'm really looking forward to tinkering with it! I believe this is now the oldest PC sound card I own. Based on some discussions online I guess with the right drivers it will do something not entirely unlike Adlib and Sound Blaster emulation. Neat. 😁

Ozzuneoj > Nice stash ..... I started testing the Macbook's ... I had one that started fine (just need a password) , the G4 pb needs a screen , and now let's see the 2006-2008 model....

You don't have any late 2011 - early 2013 models in there do you ?

if so ... they make perfect parts machines, I have two of them that have both had their GPUs fixed twice now and they are still flaky as shit, they were the 8000 series GPU models and all have bump gate issues.

I have MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Aluminium Late 2008(x2) / MacBook Pro 15 Early 2008 / PowerBook G4 12 2001 - or so the seller's list was.... I need to check them all I only had time to check a old one i had ibook (white core duo) that only today got the plug in this batch for testing , and the rest of them

TrashPanda - try fixing them with hot iron (worked great on 8700M GT mxm gpu on Alienware i9700 , made a tutorial ) or candle in metal tray. the reflow did not hold on alienware G84 gpu - GeForce 8700M GT - only thing that did not damadge the chip and worked most was the hot iron 10-15min then cool. (lid meditation candle in metal tray worked on older G3/G4 ibooks i had with red colloring on GPU , then thermopad and paste on the gpu).

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-03-15, 10:52:

I have MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Aluminium Late 2008(x2) / MacBook Pro 15 Early 2008 / PowerBook G4 12 2001 - or so the seller's list was.... I need to check them all I only had time to check a old one i had ibook (white core duo) that only today got the plug in this batch for testing , and the rest of them

TrashPanda - try fixing them with hot iron (worked great on 8700M GT mxm gpu on Alienware i9700 , made a tutorial ) or candle in metal tray. the reflow did not hold on alienware G84 gpu - GeForce 8700M GT - only thing that did not damadge the chip and worked most was the hot iron 10-15min then cool. (lid meditation candle in metal tray worked on older G3/G4 ibooks i had with red colloring on GPU , then thermopad and paste on the gpu).

IIRC they have both had the GPU replaced, but the replaced chips eventually began to suffer from similar issues, mostly the external HDMI port causes system issues when used, eventually one stopped booting altogether (Lights on but black screen) and the other still boots but is unstable and the external HDMI causes problems.

They are nice machines but a pain in the ass to repair.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 11:06:

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-03-15, 10:52:

I have MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Aluminium Late 2008(x2) / MacBook Pro 15 Early 2008 / PowerBook G4 12 2001 - or so the seller's list was.... I need to check them all I only had time to check a old one i had ibook (white core duo) that only today got the plug in this batch for testing , and the rest of them

TrashPanda - try fixing them with hot iron (worked great on 8700M GT mxm gpu on Alienware i9700 , made a tutorial ) or candle in metal tray. the reflow did not hold on alienware G84 gpu - GeForce 8700M GT - only thing that did not damadge the chip and worked most was the hot iron 10-15min then cool. (lid meditation candle in metal tray worked on older G3/G4 ibooks i had with red colloring on GPU , then thermopad and paste on the gpu).

IIRC they have both had the GPU replaced, but the replaced chips eventually began to suffer from similar issues, mostly the external HDMI port causes system issues when used, eventually one stopped booting altogether (Lights on but black screen) and the other still boots but is unstable and the external HDMI causes problems.

They are nice machines but a pain in the ass to repair.

Same was Alienware , stopped working 10 times till i managed to fix with hot iron , on cotton's settings. (run the thing 1 full week for testing). than put-it aside. whole 2004-2009 nvidia series chips (check the bulletins , Nvidia and all laptop manufactures got sued. problem persists 15 years l8ter 😁) (core's) are flawed , so it won't hold only last revisions seem to hold. I promise you do the hot ironing and you won't have issues for a while. put some flux under for good messure , the temperature won't exceed 200c so it won't ruin anything. Don't have to press the iron , it's own weight will suffice. let it cool to home temperature before booting-up.

This last MacBookpro 1.1v seem to have ATi x1600 -256mb pcie on it so it's not affected.

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-03-15, 11:11:

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 11:06:

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-03-15, 10:52:

I have MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2010 / MacBook Pro 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Mid 2009 / MacBook 13 Aluminium Late 2008(x2) / MacBook Pro 15 Early 2008 / PowerBook G4 12 2001 - or so the seller's list was.... I need to check them all I only had time to check a old one i had ibook (white core duo) that only today got the plug in this batch for testing , and the rest of them

TrashPanda - try fixing them with hot iron (worked great on 8700M GT mxm gpu on Alienware i9700 , made a tutorial ) or candle in metal tray. the reflow did not hold on alienware G84 gpu - GeForce 8700M GT - only thing that did not damadge the chip and worked most was the hot iron 10-15min then cool. (lid meditation candle in metal tray worked on older G3/G4 ibooks i had with red colloring on GPU , then thermopad and paste on the gpu).

IIRC they have both had the GPU replaced, but the replaced chips eventually began to suffer from similar issues, mostly the external HDMI port causes system issues when used, eventually one stopped booting altogether (Lights on but black screen) and the other still boots but is unstable and the external HDMI causes problems.

They are nice machines but a pain in the ass to repair.

Same was Alienware , stopped working 10 times till i managed to fix with hot iron , on cotton's settings. (run the thing 1 full week for testing). than put-it aside. whole 2004-2009 nvidia series chips (check the bulletins , Nvidia and all laptop manufactures got sued. problem persists 15 years l8ter 😁) (core's) are flawed , so it won't hold only last revisions seem to hold. I promise you do the hot ironing and you won't have issues for a while. put some flux under for good messure , the temperature won't exceed 200c so it won't ruin anything.

This last MacBookpro 1.1v seem to have ATi x1600 -256mb pcie on it so it's not affected.

I got nothing to lose, ill give it a shot as it was a nice media machine for the couch !

That said I like the sound of an ATI model too, they should be fairly cheap from a refurb mob.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 11:14:

ediflorianUS wrote on 2023-03-15, 11:11:

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 11:06:

IIRC they have both had the GPU replaced, but the replaced chips eventually began to suffer from similar issues, mostly the external HDMI port causes system issues when used, eventually one stopped booting altogether (Lights on but black screen) and the other still boots but is unstable and the external HDMI causes problems.

They are nice machines but a pain in the ass to repair.

Same was Alienware , stopped working 10 times till i managed to fix with hot iron , on cotton's settings. (run the thing 1 full week for testing). than put-it aside. whole 2004-2009 nvidia series chips (check the bulletins , Nvidia and all laptop manufactures got sued. problem persists 15 years l8ter 😁) (core's) are flawed , so it won't hold only last revisions seem to hold. I promise you do the hot ironing and you won't have issues for a while. put some flux under for good messure , the temperature won't exceed 200c so it won't ruin anything.

This last MacBookpro 1.1v seem to have ATi x1600 -256mb pcie on it so it's not affected.

I got nothing to lose, ill give it a shot as it was a nice media machine for the couch !

That said I like the sound of an ATI model too, they should be fairly cheap from a refurb mob.

if you need , search on youtube the hot iron gpu fix video (or I can pm the link), anyway here is my Alienware fixed. under testing.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-15, 05:21:

IIRC the 295 also had a dual board model, I might be wrong but I swear I remember there being one that used the 285 dies and had 4gb of shared memory instead of the 280 ones. (Possibly one of the crazy ASUS Mars models)

The original 295 was 2 boards. After they had issues with that one, they went to a single board model.

There was also a 3rd party 285x2. The regular 295 by specs is a 275x2 with lower clocks than the 275.