Completed a collection of the Roland-published, "Listen Series" GS MIDI albums.

Had a go at testing my newly bought voodoo card Bought these (retro) hardware today visiting a colleague, using his P2B and Pentium II 350 and Windows 98. And it worked! Had totally forgotten how smooth Win98 worked, and how noisy mechanical hard drives are 🤣
Also had a chance at playing with one of his Amiga 1200s 😁

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-26, 06:35:

What I would like to ask is.
I know the last officially supported nvidia card for Win2k was the 8800 Ultra...
However I do have a 9400GT running on another Win2k system I have and that has nvidia official drivers, so Im wondering if the 9800 GX2 will run under the WinXP drivers installed onto Win2k.

Nvidia supported Windows 2000 through the GeForce 400-series and related Quadro cards with the XP drivers from 2010. I can't verify that any of the 400-series cards work with it, though. My Quadro 4000 doesn't work properly with any of the last few Windows 2000 drivers with the vanilla Windows 2000 kernel. I don't have any other 400-series cards to test either.

I use a GeForce GTX 285 for Windows 2000's vanilla kernel with the GeForce Desktop Driver 197.13 intended for Windows XP. The readme file says it supports Windows 2000 Professional and Server. I just looked at the package's .INF file, and it lists the 9800 GX2 as a supported card.

Having one of those "BW wants to build weird crap again" days, pulled out some A/462 mATX boards to eyeball them. There's been jokes about using merely mainstream components from a given era being just a "poor man simulator" meaning what's the point if it's not high end. So yah, deliberate top of bottom end style builds come to mind. Though they would be targeting 3 years earlier really. Got three HP/MSI-OEM KM series boards, but they offer very limited config options. Then the two that scream at me are an M810LMR and a L7VMM2, SDRAM budget and DDR budget. For CPUs I've got duron 900, 1300 and 1600, those are spitfire, morgan and applebred (appaloosa/thoroughbred)

For pixel pushers, IDK got too much choice, TNT2 as they were held over as the budget card for a few years, despite the GF2MX existing, which is an option, then the same sitch with ATI with Rage128 vs Radeon 7000VE ... then for DDR era more the thing is maybe a GF4MX, or a Radeon 92x0, or for giggles SiS Xabre 200, or for that matter a SiS315

For a lower speed build, I'd be thinking late 90s with win98 as the game target, for a faster DDR build, it's more like transmillenial "haven't you upgraded to ME/2k/XP yet" win98.

I don't think I've got any (in)appropriate cases though, there was some really nasty minimal effort mATX boxes around for $10 at one point. Then the classic was grubby old reclaimed OEM cases from aspires or thinkvistas etc for lowbuck builds at the time. Though seen very rarely, this was the era of expensive digital cams still after all, there were examples of "built in a tomato box" student rigs.

I dunno if this is a configure and run on the bench only project or what, kinda leans a bit towards my "See what I can put up with" strategy, of doing some unusual or less high stressed, "same performance as..." something a little older and spendier ... while I actually have the other stuff to compare it to for "feel" then eventual rationalisation down to some reasonable number of keepers.

But, might end up with two configs here, morgan 1300 on the SDRam board, Duron 1600 on the DDR board.. and I know the 1600 will barely break a sweat to run at 133 bus so that tends to stick it in the top third of fast for socket A.

Undiscovered: Don't know where these are, but I was fairly sure I had either a spitfire or morgan 1100 also and a basic xgi volari, so maybe those end up joining the fray... or don't.

Then I'm happily dreaming this up and it goes through my head, "Wait, isn't this stepping on the toes of the 'proper' builds you're planning like the top end Thunderbird Athlon on A7V, and the most you can squeeze out of a tualeron on an apollo board.??? " yeah maybe... IDK why I wanna build 6 of the same thing all the time. Those would probably get the GF3 or GF2GTS though.

I'm just rambling on here when I should be off downloading some drivers for the "gaming laptop" for 2010 and prior. Which is another point, I'm duplicating capabilities across desktop and laptop too 🤣 I'm hopeless.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2023-07-26, 08:13:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-07-25, 21:26:

Well, the Radeon 8500DV arrived today. Except its not an 8500DV. Despite having a factory label that clearly says "AIW 8500DV 64 […]
Show full quote

Well, the Radeon 8500DV arrived today. Except its not an 8500DV. Despite having a factory label that clearly says "AIW 8500DV 64MB".

The BIOs and Drivers both report it as a Radeon 7500 AIW, and the board layout aside from that label matches. Weirdly GPU-Z reports it has having 2 vertex shaders, where as RV200 should have zero. Specs reported otherwise match Radeon 7500. 3DMark reports unable to complete PS/VS 1.1 level tests due to lack of HW support.

What is with ATI cards and incorrect factory S/N P/N labels? I have a Radeon 9700 Pro around here somewhere with a very much factory label for an X800 Pro.

I'm not going to return this despite it objectively not being what I paid for, there is no way the seller could have known this was a fake (?). Like I assume this is someones early 2000s scam biting me 20+ years later. Either that or ATI was reusing serial number labels meant for other card models without changing the listed part model.

🙁 is yours anything like this 8500DV AIW Software Suite w/ TV Tuner as these do seem to pop up now and again

Yep, sure is. ATI def doing some sketchy shit back in the day, that card from that post also is labeled as an 8500DV despite obviously being a 7500 AIW.

On another more general note:

Also I wanted to call this dirtbag out here: https://www.ebay.com/str/losangelescomputerstore

Do not for any reason buy from that dirtbag, he's snipping AGP GPU auctions then flipping them again, artificially inflating the price of AGP graphics cards:

Card sold for its true value of $51 USD: https://www.ebay.com/itm/145170001096?hash=it … =p2047675.l2557

Then a few days later the scumbag seller flipped it for $130, more than 2x its true value: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186004806069?hash=it … ABk9SR-bjmOiyYg

The card has specific cosmetic damage to the aftermarket cooler that makes me reasonably sure its the same card.

I really wish we could put together a list of vintage hardwares profiteers and scalpers so that we could collectively blacklist them. Even just VOGONs and VCFed not buying from these people would probably collapse their business and put them on the street. Realistically we'd probably just cause them to all start rebranding themselves every couple of months. These people are the reason you can't get a good AGP GPU at normal prices anymore. I suspect he's purposely buying up stock just to keep his own prices high. We as a hobby need to learn some self control and just not buy from professional resellers. If your going to overpay for a GPU make sure its a collector to collector transaction. We are truly fucked if eBay to eBay scalping becomes common, prices will just keep skyrocketing for absolutely no fucking reason.

Well, if it sells for $130 then he isn't inflating the price artificially, the other seller is underpricing.. Just a thought.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-07-27, 08:55:

Well, if it sells for $130 then he isn't inflating the price artificially, the other seller is underpricing.. Just a thought.

That all depends.
If you own one > under
If you want one > over

Im sure we all have hardware that we like to think it very expensive that others wouldnt give you any money for at all let alone what you think its worth.

For me $130 is about right. Thats pretty much what I would be willing to pay for one if I was of a mind to buy one.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-27, 10:01:

That all depends. If you own one > under If you want one > over […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2023-07-27, 08:55:

Well, if it sells for $130 then he isn't inflating the price artificially, the other seller is underpricing.. Just a thought.

That all depends.
If you own one > under
If you want one > over

Im sure we all have hardware that we like to think it very expensive that others wouldnt give you any money for at all let alone what you think its worth.

For me $130 is about right. Thats pretty much what I would be willing to pay for one if I was of a mind to buy one.

$130 for a card thats nearly guaranteed to fail if used on a day to day basis.

FX 5900 Series are on the same list as ATI 9600/9700 series and GeForce 7000 cards in that its more when than if based on all available data.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-07-28, 06:15:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-27, 10:01:

That all depends. If you own one > under If you want one > over […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2023-07-27, 08:55:

Well, if it sells for $130 then he isn't inflating the price artificially, the other seller is underpricing.. Just a thought.

That all depends.
If you own one > under
If you want one > over

Im sure we all have hardware that we like to think it very expensive that others wouldnt give you any money for at all let alone what you think its worth.

For me $130 is about right. Thats pretty much what I would be willing to pay for one if I was of a mind to buy one.

$130 for a card thats nearly guaranteed to fail if used on a day to day basis.

FX 5900 Series are on the same list as ATI 9600/9700 series and GeForce 7000 cards in that its more when than if based on all available data.

i can't imagine paying that much for an old agp card, what can be done with it that cannot be done with much cheaper cards, and if sought for some particular game that has particular requirements not met by cheaper cards (unlikely) then just spending the same on a whole computer that is more recent and more capable in every way (any 775 with cheap pcie) and can play everything that this specific card was intended for

Any particular GF7000 card models more prone than other ?
(was not aware of these being endangered that way...! 8000 series OTOH)

As for particular requirements vs using the 5000 series, I think I read something about these FX cards being the last series that has certain backward/'retro' support:
Table Fog & 8-bit Paletted Textures

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-07-28, 06:15:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-27, 10:01:

That all depends. If you own one > under If you want one > over […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2023-07-27, 08:55:

Well, if it sells for $130 then he isn't inflating the price artificially, the other seller is underpricing.. Just a thought.

That all depends.
If you own one > under
If you want one > over

Im sure we all have hardware that we like to think it very expensive that others wouldnt give you any money for at all let alone what you think its worth.

For me $130 is about right. Thats pretty much what I would be willing to pay for one if I was of a mind to buy one.

$130 for a card thats nearly guaranteed to fail if used on a day to day basis.

FX 5900 Series are on the same list as ATI 9600/9700 series and GeForce 7000 cards in that its more when than if based on all available data.

IF.
Would you be buying it to be a daily driver?
IF
Youre buying it for that then surely you would know the pitfalls of it.

gerry wrote on 2023-07-28, 09:17:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-07-28, 06:15:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-27, 10:01:

That all depends. If you own one > under If you want one > over […]
Show full quote

That all depends.
If you own one > under
If you want one > over

Im sure we all have hardware that we like to think it very expensive that others wouldnt give you any money for at all let alone what you think its worth.

For me $130 is about right. Thats pretty much what I would be willing to pay for one if I was of a mind to buy one.

$130 for a card thats nearly guaranteed to fail if used on a day to day basis.

FX 5900 Series are on the same list as ATI 9600/9700 series and GeForce 7000 cards in that its more when than if based on all available data.

i can't imagine paying that much for an old agp card, what can be done with it that cannot be done with much cheaper cards, and if sought for some particular game that has particular requirements not met by cheaper cards (unlikely) then just spending the same on a whole computer that is more recent and more capable in every way (any 775 with cheap pcie) and can play everything that this specific card was intended for

I dont think the price has anything to do with its utility as a video card.

I think anybody who would suppose that, especially on this particular forum would know a video card like that isnt going to be used as a persons main computer any more.

And to both of you.
$130 or about £100 is what people are actually paying for it.
You only have to look at ebay completed items to see what people are actually paying for them. Its not my opinion that that is what the card is worth.
To me it isnt worth anything, I wouldnt give a single penny for it, but having said that they do sell all day long in the £100 range.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-28, 11:19:

I dont think the price has anything to do with its utility as a video card. […]
Show full quote

I dont think the price has anything to do with its utility as a video card.

I think anybody who would suppose that, especially on this particular forum would know a video card like that isnt going to be used as a persons main computer any more.

And to both of you.
$130 or about £100 is what people are actually paying for it.

i'm not sure anyone is saying people won't pay lots of money for things that have relatively little utility

and while i might be puzzled at why someone would spend lots on some items, i accept it as a consequence of their choice and means

for me utility is important enough that specific hardware just doesn't get the 'premium' value that it can for others, in almost every case there is a 'next model down' or alternative that may not be as cool or as high spec, but is more than good enough

that might explain the volume of budget stuff i have though! 😀

Who knows why these days.
I mean the price could be what it is because people want to make youtube videos featuring it to show how bad it really was.

Yesterday, the ThinkPad G41 was blessed with Win98SE, thanks to "MiniXP" on Hiren's Boot CD (it actually USB) assisting me getting files over there
But since the G41 is not really targeted towards gaming, I seriously consider giving it the 2000 back, which it came with. It's primary use will probably be moving of files between cd, floppy, network etc., as it has a functioning 3.5" floppy drive.

Couple more teardowns today.

First is from my 486DX-33 build in which the motherboard has died.

Followed by a recent pickup in need of some cleaning and rust removal.

Not today but yesterday I finished restoring my PowerBook 1400c/166. Full recap, hinge reinforcement, and more done to it to build the best laptop I could. Today I'm enjoying the fruits of my work with some DOOM :^)

Just listening to classic MIDI jams, with the Edirol Virtual Sound Canvas, thanks to the new VST MIDI Driver from Falcosoft. In a bit, I'm gonna start a deep dive into what's going on with the MIDI 2.0 upgrade for Windows, that is currently being developed.

Does JTAG-ing a Frankenstein Xbox 360 count? 🤣

3d printed a baby-AT test bench design I found on a YT video https://youtu.be/2-eV7zN-AMA

Got the perfect 98SE setup on 86Box, and still trying to find some games for my 98se vm on vmware