VOGONS


Retro Loot Sneak Peak

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First post, by clueless1

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Guys, look what my retro buddy dropped off today! A gift, but I'm going to try to help him with a computer issue as trade. He's got much more too! Years ago he ran a computer/electronics repair business. He's been holding onto all this stuff for years, trying to figure out what to do with it. He actually was going to throw a lot of it out. But through our friendship he found a better way to dispose of it. 😁

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Guess what I'll be doing for the next few days? 😉
-The box in the front is full of heatsink fans of all eras (486 to 775).
-The box on the right looks to be full of video cards (S3 Trio for sure) and maybe sound cards along with a WinME disc/COA.
-The closed box on the far left is least interesting. Has old ink cartridges. 🤣.
-Two CRTs and 5 towers. The beige one in the back is brand new and very solid. Looks awesome in a generic sort of way. All appear to be ATX.
-box in the back right I'm not sure yet what's in there. I was so taken by that box with the S3 Trios that I grabbed it to go through first and stopped lookat at the rest!

Now off to go through the first box!

Cheers...

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
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Reply 1 of 19, by clueless1

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Here's some highlights from the first box:
1 Matrox G100 AGP
A couple of ATI AGP cards (unidentified yet)
an unidentified nvidia AGP card (VisionTek NVD01.1and NV999.0)
4 NIB HIS S3 Trio3D/2X AGP
2 NIB AOpen PA50 AGP (SiS 6326)
1 S3 Trio/Virge PCI
1 ATI Rage 128 PCI
1 SB PCI 128
1 Audigy SB0090 with FireWire
a big bag of SDRAM
one curious double-decker looking SDRAM stick
5 old PCI NICs
11 PCI modems
2 sealed Verbatim TR-3 Extra minicartridges
1 WinME OEM disc/license
2 generic NIB PS/2 wheel mice
a bunch of retail VGA cables
7 floppy drives
2 black face CD-RW drives
2 beige CD-ROM drives
monitor-mount speakers that will fit my Packard Bell 14" CRT

That's it for box one. Will dig into another box tomorrow.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
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DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 2 of 19, by Jade Falcon

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In before amibay link or reference....

Nice haul

Reply 3 of 19, by keenmaster486

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Ooooooh! That's great man, I wish I had a friend like yours 🤣

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 4 of 19, by clueless1

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Jade Falcon wrote:

In before amibay link or reference....

Nice haul

Thanks. I don't understand what you mean by the amibay part though.

I've never seen a double-decker SDRAM module before. Are these special in any way?

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The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 5 of 19, by Brickpad

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I believe that is ECC server memory. Some of the modules in my Compaq Prosignia 300 are double-stacked in a similar way.

[EDIT]

Nice haul!

Reply 6 of 19, by Jade Falcon

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clueless1 wrote:

Thanks. I don't understand what you mean by the amibay part though.

Someone is bound to say something about amibay... I was predicting it.

Reply 7 of 19, by Snayperskaya

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Is it Xmas already? 😁

I have seen two of those double-stack SDRAM. I think I have one, of 64MB capacity IIRC.

Reply 8 of 19, by clueless1

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Here's the Audigy that was in my care package 😀

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Can anyone tell me more about this card? Does it work in Win98? Reviews for this particular model seem to be hard to come by.

Thanks!

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 9 of 19, by chinny22

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Stock standard 1st Gen Audigy.
Nice card, I personally prefer it over the SB Live range
Supports 9x and last card to officially support dos (Audigy 2/4 can be made to work this cards dos drivers)

Reply 10 of 19, by clueless1

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chinny22 wrote:

Stock standard 1st Gen Audigy.
Nice card, I personally prefer it over the SB Live range
Supports 9x and last card to officially support dos (Audigy 2/4 can be made to work this cards dos drivers)

Thx man. Is it true you need a full installation CD to install this guy? I checked Vogons Drivers and the only ones I saw were for ME and up:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=397
and an Asian version that I'm not sure works in Win9x:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=508

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 11 of 19, by clueless1

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Hey guys, in my photo in the OP, that mini tower on the left is an HP Vectra Series 8 Mini Tower. I know it's got a Pentium II in it and apparently has integrated Matrox G400?

At any rate, I cannot figure out how to disassemble the case! 🤣. I feel like an idiot. 😉 Any ideas?

I do know that there are two little tabs on either side of the front that flip up, but I can't seem to find anything helpful in there. I've pushed and pulled on the sections in there to try to release the front panel, but so far no luck.

Also, there is a key and keyhole on the back, and I've tried using the key, but despite inserting all the way, it won't turn. I'm afraid if I try to hard I will bend the key while it's in the tumbler. Any tips?

Here is what it looks like:

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The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 12 of 19, by Rhuwyn

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Hey nice score. I've gotten some scores like that but Ive always paid for them. 😒

If I remember correctly opening that Vectra does have something to do with that key. But I'll see if I can find an actual reference for it.

Reply 13 of 19, by Rhuwyn

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This guy looks like he has the same chassis. All he did was flip the tabs and slide the outercase off from the front. I am getting that the key can potentially lock it in place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP4l7B76Y2k

Reply 14 of 19, by clueless1

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Rhuwyn wrote:

This guy looks like he has the same chassis. All he did was flip the tabs and slide the outercase off from the front. I am getting that the key can potentially lock it in place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP4l7B76Y2k

Thanks, man! It doesn't look too hard now that I know where to pry with a screw driver. 🤣.

edit: got it open! It did take a standard screw driver and some prying...

Everything looks healthy inside. Slot 1 Pentium II, 3 SDRAM slots, one is filled. 3 PCI and 4 ISA slots on a riser. There's one of those angled Aztech sound cards and a NIC. And I saw the Matrox chip on the motherboard. I believe it is integrated G400. Oh, and a Quantum Fireball CM--6.4 or 8.4GB (didn't have my readers with me). Don't have time atm to fire it up, but looking forward to it. 😀

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 15 of 19, by Brickpad

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Those Vectras are really cool systems. I've got a pizza box Vectra VL2 4/50se (Intel SX2-50MHz) with those stupid tabs as well. Can be a bit of a pain to slide off, but otherwise pretty simple setup.

Reply 16 of 19, by clueless1

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I like yours better. I'm more a fan of the older systems, but this one is cool. Trying to decide what to do with it now. The integrated graphics is actually Matrox G100 with 4MB. The hdd is a Quantum Fireball 6.4GB and it's in perfect condition. only 4000 power on hours and no bad sectors. Currently running it through a SpinRite level 4 scan. Interestingly, it had Red Hat linux installed on it. Going to wipe that out and probably replace with Win98. A bit too fast for a DOS system. I've heard good things about those Aztech angled sound cards.

edit: next system is a Compaq Presario 7478. Another one I don't know how to open up. Will have to do some googling. But I can tell it's got a K6-2 533 and 64MB. Graphics and sound are integrated.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 17 of 19, by Brickpad

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Well it just so happens I was given a junk Compaq Presario 7471 not too long ago, with similar specs. In order to take it apart, you have to pull it from the back. The outer shell is actually one piece, if I remember correctly. Compaq in their typical fashion used Torx head screws, so be prepared to use them. The integrated graphics, I believe, is ATI Rage 3D, and I don't recall the model of the motherboard, but I know it's "Camaro," and uses SDRAM.

Reply 18 of 19, by ODwilly

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Brickpad wrote:

Well it just so happens I was given a junk Compaq Presario 7471 not too long ago, with similar specs. In order to take it apart, you have to pull it from the back. The outer shell is actually one piece, if I remember correctly. Compaq in their typical fashion used Torx head screws, so be prepared to use them. The integrated graphics, I believe, is ATI Rage 3D, and I don't recall the model of the motherboard, but I know it's "Camaro," and uses SDRAM.

just to note a flathead screw driver also works for torx screws 😀 and that in my experience the little matx powersupplies burn out and kill the board in these SS7 compaqs

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 19 of 19, by clueless1

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I was able to clean up the HP Vectra a bit while I was putting the Voodoo3 in. They use this weird grey color for the power button area, floppy, CD and 5 1/4" cover plates, and I had to replace the CD drive because it wasn't recognizing discs. In my mind, I thought black might look cool with the grey, so I changed out both the CD and floppy drives for black versions. Now, I'm not so sure I like it, but it'll stay this way for now.

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Fronm left to right: Dell Dimension 4100 P3-933 facing sideways; HP Vectra P2-400/Voodoo3; 486DX2-66 VLB; Packard Bell Multimedia C110 POD200MMX

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The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks