I'd add having extra cables, mainly floppy and HDD ones, but if monitor allows it, having a couple spare VGA ones. Also, having 40-thread and 80-thread IDE cables is very useful.

(In no particular order).

-PC Speaker or Piezo Beeper
-A Gotek/FDD Emulator with bootdisk images and other useful tools
-Extra Memory in different sizes
-Extra Processors
-A shite tone of AT-ATX Adapters
-A nice little testbench or open case to hold everything while you work.
-A drawer full of extra floppy and IDE cables

Good stuff.

PCI/PCI-Express POST card is a must when building retro or modern day systems! One of the reasons I love Abit boards is that many of them have that on board!

Extra parts and cable adapters are always useful, but more importantly, tested/working spare parts are essential if you're working with unknown condition motherboards.

Beyond that, here are a few items I find essential:
- POST card (ISA/PCI/PCIe)
- 2-pin Speaker
- Multimeter
- DSO Nano
- TL866 (minipro)
- Chip puller (PLCC and DIP)
- Soldering iron and solder sucker, hot air pencil -- along with the usual solder essentials
- A good set of screw driver tips (I've even ran across motherboards mounted to case backplates using security bits before)
- Mini needle-nose plyers
- Cheap IR thermometer for measuring chip temperatures (or better yet, a FLIR One if you want to visually see it)

Having a (clean) workspace/workenvironment helps a lot.

But the absolute minimum for me would be a set of screwdrivers (large philips, small or tiny philips, large flatbed) and maybe a flashlight I always like to use bicyclelights like these
download/file.php?mode=view&id=93086
because I can bend them around corners very easily due to them being so flat. And a set of antistatic packaging.
This is the very least that I need when working on a PC someplace else.

For a workspace I'd add:
- an antistatic wriststrap
- spare parts like universal PCI graphics card
- RAM (for all the types that I need) of relatively low capacity as this will increase overall compatibility
- 2 sets of keyboard and mouses with adapters in case
- Several monitors so I can work on 2 systems at the same time 🤣
- Several power cords that I can enable/disable separately with a switch within easy reach in case I need to cut the power rightnow
- PSU (one with both ok 12v and very good 5v rails)
- Box with spare screws and other spare little bits (like space washers, paperclips, front panel buttons, tie ribs, etc)
- Big desk light which I can bend into several directions
- Floppy drive and optical drive (with cables basically always attached as I always use the same one for testing anyway)
- Internal and external speakers
- Memtest on both floppy and CDROM
- A separate (and somewhat expendable) spare system that I use for stuff like accessing harddrives
- USB ZIP drive with some of the most common stuff I basically always end up using anyway
- A main computer connected to the internet in case I need to go look up something
- Pen and paper to write down stuff
- Tape and stickers so I can label stuff (helps prevent me from having to retest previously tested components again and again. And help prevent damage caused by known broken components)
- A camera
- Being well rested! And not being in a hurry 😜 And no distractions like annoying family members or cats. And knowing how to think rationally as this helps a lot, specifically with troubleshooting. Or go yolomode and accept the consequences 😜
But having a well rested brain is perhaps the most important bit of hardware one can bring to a working area.

My bench:

Tetrium wrote on 2020-09-28, 11:57:

- Being well rested! And not being in a hurry 😜 And no distractions like annoying family members or cats. And knowing how to think rationally as this helps a lot, specifically with troubleshooting. Or go yolomode and accept the consequences 😜
But having a well rested brain is perhaps the most important bit of hardware one can bring to a working area.

Damn it, was going to be a smart ass and say time as that's why a lot of my more involved projects are on long term hold at the moment.
but you beat me to it in a more serous reply 😉

A small fridge, full of beer, is handy to have close by.

I reckon an ATX PSU tester ought to be useful, especially considering how cheap they are.

I guess technically you don't need one if you have a multimeter, and can remember where to stick the leads, and know what voltage you're supposed to expect – but there's a lot of potential for error there that can throw you off.

And sometimes I've thought it might be nice to have a beeping continuity tester, but I suppose if we're talking about "minimum", then that's a luxury.

Also:
Extra jumpers in case you need them. And tweezers for removing/inserting jumpers.
Maybe a small magnet for picking up screws that wind up in inconvenient places, assuming your screwdrivers aren't adequately magnetized already.

chinny22 wrote on 2020-09-28, 15:17:

Tetrium wrote on 2020-09-28, 11:57:

- Being well rested! And not being in a hurry 😜 And no distractions like annoying family members or cats. And knowing how to think rationally as this helps a lot, specifically with troubleshooting. Or go yolomode and accept the consequences 😜
But having a well rested brain is perhaps the most important bit of hardware one can bring to a working area.

Damn it, was going to be a smart ass and say time as that's why a lot of my more involved projects are on long term hold at the moment.
but you beat me to it in a more serous reply 😉

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of us have made this mistake. I know I sure have and not making that mistake again 😜