Youtubers ruin everything. 😐

yep.. That's a wrap for anything 3dfx or midi, especially the mt-32 and sc-55.

Too bad I already can't afford those things, but I'm sure a lot of the collectors among us will make some money.

On the other hand, maybe they'll do a pentium pro build and a few certain parties I know can sell them for $5000 ea to the newbsters 😎

eCelebs... The bane of the classic gaming community, as well. For instance, Earthbound was produced in absurd numbers, but it's priced as if it wasn't given a massive advertising campaign by Nintendo.

It's odd that word of a special Resident Evil release drove up PCX2 prices. I almost feel like it's my fault for dusting off my card and doing videos from it, with some "dreamcast GPU predecessor" references, and i'm not no LGR or anything.

I used to be able to find complete Pentium and earlier systems for under $60 shipped on eBay all day long just in 2016-2017. Now, forget it.

The sad thing is that most of them probably don't care about DOS games at all. If there's people that think NES games such as Castlevania, MegaMan and SMB3 look "gross" and are "badly designed" like I saw in a video the other day, I cannot imagine what they would think about slower paced DOS stuff such as point and clicks, simulators and strategy games.

Oh well, expect lots of new posts here about AT power connectors plugged in backwards. And many questions about jumpers.

I watched 20 seconds of that video about NES games and stopped.

Hah, apparently I've already seen that un-researched ██it piece, because I still have a dislike indicator on it. Yeah, same as with video games, the only way to get a good deal is to buy from places where people don't know or care what they're selling. Harder and harder to do, since people have iPhones surgically implanted, and think that the crackhead asking prices on ebay are genuine market prices.

oeuvre wrote:

I used to be able to find complete Pentium and earlier systems for under $60 shipped on eBay all day long just in 2016-2017. Now, forget it.

Locally, it was even cheaper here, but as I picked up all 486 and Socket 7/370 era hardware on sale locally over the last two years, the sources have dried up and the market mirrored your experience. Good luck finding anything cheap anymore. At least I have my personal stockpile.. It's not big by any standards, most collectors here would laugh at it, but it will serve me well (25+ boards, 50+ CPUs, 60+ graphics cards and 40+ sound cards)

Ugh. Why is he doing this? I don’t particularly dislike this guy, but
the show seems to focus mainly on modern gaming/high end gaming
with water cooled this and that every other episode. Why does he have
to go and get into retro gaming? Hardly seems like his audience would give
a crap.

He's done videos on gaming on linux as well. Then linux gaming got really popular.

I kind of take issue when he takes a boxed C64, asks whether it's in working condition and says something like "this would make a great sleeper PC". No, please don't make irreversible changes to working hardware. It's the same people who keep buying Dolch PAC computers, strip them for mechanical keys and then throw them out (or try to resell the remains). Thanks to that I've been looking for a decently priced luggable PC for years with no luck. I mean, portable PCs/laptops generally tend to be more expensive than desktop hardware, but the keycaps things just adds insult to an injury.

Other than that I don't think YouTube is evil. It's how I got introduced to the hobby in the first place (as I'm sure many others are, too). Price hikes are inevitable, but it also means more people are trying to sell retro hardware as opposed to just throwing stuff out. Besides, the "vintage computers" section on eBay probably made more for both prices and popularisation than any YouTuber ever did.

vvbee wrote:

He's done videos on gaming on linux as well. Then linux gaming got really popular.

2019 will be the Year of the Linux Desktop, inshallah.

appiah4 wrote:

oeuvre wrote:

I used to be able to find complete Pentium and earlier systems for under $60 shipped on eBay all day long just in 2016-2017. Now, forget it.

Locally, it was even cheaper here, but as I picked up all 486 and Socket 7/370 era hardware on sale locally over the last two years, the sources have dried up and the market mirrored your experience. Good luck finding anything cheap anymore. At least I have my personal stockpile.. It's not big by any standards, most collectors here would laugh at it, but it will serve me well (25+ boards, 50+ CPUs, 60+ graphics cards and 40+ sound cards)

If 25+ boards and 50+ cpus is not big, I'd like to see your definition of what is big. But then I think I have maybe a dozen motherboards and systems combined, so clearly I am small time. 😁

I am already backing off the collecting aspect of the hobby, I figure I have what I wanted so I'm good.

oeuvre wrote:

vvbee wrote:

He's done videos on gaming on linux as well. Then linux gaming got really popular.

2019 will be the Year of the Linux Desktop, inshallah.

Isn't <insert year here> always the year of the Linux desktop? 😁

jheronimus wrote:

I kind of take issue when he takes a boxed C64, asks whether it's in working condition and says something like "this would make a great sleeper PC". No, please don't make irreversible changes to working hardware. It's the same people who keep buying Dolch PAC computers, strip them for mechanical keys and then throw them out (or try to resell the remains). Thanks to that I've been looking for a decently priced luggable PC for years with no luck. I mean, portable PCs/laptops generally tend to be more expensive than desktop hardware, but the keycaps things just adds insult to an injury.

Other than that I don't think YouTube is evil. It's how I got introduced to the hobby in the first place (as I'm sure many others are, too). Price hikes are inevitable, but it also means more people are trying to sell retro hardware as opposed to just throwing stuff out. Besides, the "vintage computers" section on eBay probably made more for both prices and popularisation than any YouTuber ever did.

Yeah, that bit made me cringe too. Maybe limit your sleeper system builds to busted ass hardware, or print up a copy of the case in a 3D printer whilst pointing out that it is important to keep working hardware working? That would let you make your system and send a message that preservation matters. Hell it is not like he couldn't afford a high-end 3D printer, dude has 2 Red cameras as is.

This thread made my day... the fear of youtubers and ever rising prices...

"Fear" might be a strong word perhaps. "Annoyance" is probably more accurate (for me anyway). I do enjoy watching some Youtubers who upload retro computing videos, but it is hard to ignore the very real effect they have on increasing the rate at which prices rise.

One such example off the top of my head was about 18-20 months ago when I bought a Unisys CWD4001 off eBay for $75 USD. The seller had probably at least a hundred for sale IIRC. I remember checking the sold history on that auction and noticed that they had only been selling in dribs and drabs over the past 6 months. Anyway, coincidentally about a month or so later, LGR put out a video on these machines. The day after watching this video myself, I checked the eBay auction I had bought mine from again and saw that many had sold on the same day that LGR had put out that video. The seller had doubled the price in reaction to this (If I'm being honest, I cannot say that I blame him). That auction still eventually sold out completely with that doubled price... I think he had even increased it a little bit more a couple weeks later.

This is just how it goes of course. Prices are going to rise inevitably anyway as these things break down, get thrown out, etc. and the available stock dwindles. But, I think it's fairly safe to say that Youtubers do have a direct impact on price.

Dominus wrote:

This thread made my day... the fear of youtubers and ever rising prices...

🤣