DaveDDS wrote on 2026-05-27, 20:50:

The first PC CD-ROM I ever got was one that connected to a SoundBlaster (Pro or 16) - IIRC it was a 2x! - I don't think it was I […]
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Cuttoon wrote on 2026-05-27, 15:59:

Oh, 4x did indeed exist.

The first PC CD-ROM I ever got was one that connected to a SoundBlaster (Pro or 16) - IIRC it was a 2x!
- I don't think it was IDE - but the connector looked like it.

I think I had one at one time that took caddies that was 1x (but they were rare)

It actually started with one, IIRC. 1x refers to the original speed of music CDs which translates to roughly 150 kB per second. But even the oldest I've ever seen were 2x.

These really old pre-IDE drives have become rare AF. Maybe due to the fact that optical drives do indeed age with time and usage, much more than solid state electronics.
Many early to mid 90s sound cards had two or three different connectors, two of those were the same 40 pin ones as IDE uses.
My budged SB 32 from 1997 had an IDE interface, that was one of the earlier ones.

I did a dive on these really old CD-ROMs for proprietary interfaces.
Gathered a dozen model designations, ran an automated search on ebay for months. Very few, only at three figure prices.
Sadly, most privately owned relics will be thrown away or listed without designation...

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2026-05-28, 17:51:

I have planned these three areas: […]
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I have planned these three areas:

CRT Retro - 8 machines spanning from 4.77Mhz 8088 up to Athlon XP 3200+, covering DOS, Win9X and early XP

1600x1200 LCD - 3 machines.
Ultimate Win98, WinXP and Vista

Triple 2560x1440 - 4 machines. Covering modern gaming (With Ryzen 5800X3d and RTX 3080 Ti), home lab (Ryzen 5950), Ultimate XP (With i7 3770K and GTX 980 Ti), Windows 7.

Nothing is finished!

that sounds awesome... covers like everything and in a relatively small space! speaking of ultimate XP, I need to build something like that! I somehow still haven't gotten around to running XP on anything more powerful than a C2D, so sounds like fun 😀

I'm doing the same type setup in my basement once we redo it. I want an entire wall for a HUGE LONG desk. I'm going to do 4 stations with 4 chairs. first will be the HP Vectra 486DX/66XM specs unknown yet but will have my test 17" Viewsonic probably and a pair of HK195's for sure! I still have my original HK's from 99, they are beat up but still sound great i use them everyday. second station will be the MicronPC PII 350 I posted above with probably a Dell 19" Pro LCD and another pait of HK195's ? Haven't decided yet. Third will be my HP SR1000z setup with a Asus A7V8X-LA, Barton 2800+ 2GB RAM 160GB IDE Win XP 32bit Radeon 9700 pro and a Hercules GamerSound Fortissimo III the HP LA1907g matching silver and black HP Mouse/kb and the Creative i-triege 3200. then the fourth station will be the socket 939 I talked about above with xp 64 bit and the Altec Lansing ATP3's and Samsung 23". I'll stop there because I could go CRAZY 🤣. I'll have laptops between with my unopened sealed collection on shelves... Soon hopefully!

BadFox_1 wrote on Today, 00:30:

I'm doing the same type setup in my basement once we redo it. I want an entire wall for a HUGE LONG desk. I'm going to do 4 stations with 4 chairs.

Sounds great. Unusual to see a Radeon 9700 Pro in a build. Partly because a high percentage of them have died, and partly because the owners of the few remaining working ones don't want to risk using them in case they die.

I still have mine, which I have owned since new. I have great memories of running the ATI demos on it. Especially the Animusic Pipedreams demo. I plan to put a Copper Zalman Cooler on it before using it. I purchased a 9800 Pro last year that already has one.