Re: Why have PC designs always been so crude ?

Posted on 2024-11-30, 06:44

by

by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

And here I'm fundamentally disagree with everything OP. There were bland and uninteresting looking hifi designs and fine and well-made PC cases. The aesthetics are different, for a long time PCs weren't meant to be the centerpiece of a living room, but once the home market, but once the home market …

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Re: How do todays CPUs compare over time, even back to the 1970s and 80s?

Posted on 2024-11-25, 17:46

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

There are sites that attempt that, but they rarely go back further than the Pentium 4 era. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/1146vs6211/Intel-Pentium-III-1400S-vs-AMD-Ryzen-9-9950X And even then, the accuracy is questionable. You could build a database on catalogue data, theoretical computational …

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Re: Online account craze

Posted on 2024-11-22, 14:59

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

That's why I quadruple check everything I buy if a device needs or even works without online connectivity. If it can work with open platforms like Domoticz, Home Assistant and the likes, can it synchronize with NextCloud. If it's a game, if it has Denuvo, instantly blacklisted. If it demands a third …

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Re: happy 20th birthday to half life 2

Posted on 2024-11-22, 04:54

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

twiz11 wrote on 2024-11-20, 21:19: Now i realize I will never be able to play HL2 1.0 ever again. Why though? It's still perfectly possible to play in various ways. I wouldn't install anything onto a retro/nostalgia PC other than the release day version.

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Re: List of Currently Free Games

Posted on 2024-11-18, 18:33

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

kolderman wrote on 2024-11-18, 18:22: akula65 wrote on 2024-11-15, 18:10: Diggles: The Myth of Fenris at https://www.gog.com/ for the next three days. Not in Australia. Or you are out of time. It was said to be free for 3 days and this was posted 3 days ago.

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Re: Games where the definitive entry to a worthy Trilogy is still missing ...

Posted on 2024-11-18, 13:17

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

Knights of the Old Republic It was even intended to be a trilogy, but we got The Old Republic Online instead of a KOTOR3.

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Re: what is the greatest old hardware find/deal you have ever come across when looking for retro computer parts?

Posted on 2024-11-12, 16:09

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by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm stingy and prefer to fish in muddy waters. Voodoo1 for free. Voodoo2 12MB for the equivalent of about $5. Geforce 256 DDR for the equivalent of about $7 Radeon DDR for the equivalent of about $7. Diamond Monster Sound MX300 for the equivalent of about $5. Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 CT1600 for free. …

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Re: You might about to lose all your games bought from Ubisoft

Posted on 2024-11-08, 08:51

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

With December 6 Sega will remove a number of games from digital stores. They claim licenses already owned are unaffected so if you were planning to get any on the Christmas sales, you might want to reconsider. Steam: Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Alien Soldier Alien Storm Altered Beast Beyond …

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Re: What modern activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2024-11-07, 15:40

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

Replaced the factory cooler on my daily driver Ryzen7 5700 to a BeQuiet! Shadow Rock Slim 2 and added an extra exhaust fan. Idle temperatures dropped around 15-20˚C, now it's below 30˚C meanwhile it's got a lot more quiet. I was a bit concerned before when during video transcoding it got past 80˚C, …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2024-11-03, 17:09

by

by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Visited the monthly vintage market. Haven't posted much about it in recent months. So accept a dog merchant as an apology. IMG_20241103_091407.jpg Anyway, it was a good walk. Sunny, but a bit chilly. There were some nice vintage electronics. I almost bought a PSP, but it didn't turn on so I didn't …

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Re: Earliest games that used the most RAM?

Posted on 2024-10-31, 13:12

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by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

which version is this? LoD says 64 MB minimum but recommends against running the new 800x600 mode if being near the minimum processor or memory requirements. it's possible that the requirements crept up over the years with all the patching going on, i know for a fact win95 support was already out …

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Re: Earliest games that used the most RAM?

Posted on 2024-10-30, 19:09

by

by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Doom 3 was also considered demanding with the minimum requirement being 384MB. Neither the manual, nor the box recommends more, but I remember reading a magazine back in the day stating the game benefits from having 1GB RAM. Also 384MB for Vampire the Masquerade. Though from the same year Medal of …

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Re: Phils ComputerLab video on the Sound Blaster PCI 128

Posted on 2024-10-27, 06:44

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by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

In general, I think of the SB128's niche as post 1997 games on sub 1Ghz CPUs, because it's meant to be one of the lightest on CPU for that kind of thing. I think the opposite. I think of it as an integrated sound card replacement for OP CPUs. Since it has no hardware acceleration, a fast CPU has to …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2024-10-26, 17:29

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by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I didn't have much time retroing in recent weeks, today I got around to do something with the notebooks I've been sitting on for a while. Saved some data, then I thought I do some benchmarking. notebook1.PNG The integrated SiS GPU seems to perform around the level of a TNT2 M64. Which is not all …

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Re: Bought this (Modern) hardware today

Posted on 2024-10-22, 14:21

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

Picked up this today to upgrade my old speaker set. Filename IMG_20241022_155824.jpg File size 669.69 KiB Views 775 views File license CC-BY-4.0 Filename IMG_20241022_155900.jpg File size 748.71 KiB Views 775 views File license CC-BY-4.0 Filename IMG_20241022_160243.jpg File size 678.68 KiB Views …

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Re: Cpu for 1155 XP build

Posted on 2024-10-22, 13:04

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by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I share the same opinion of momaka. If you plans are for the XP era, that is you don't plan to go past 2009-2011 games, an Ivy Bridge I3 is perfectly fine. There are some models with 35W TDP if you are concerned about overheating.

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Re: What are you eating/drinking? (the vogons food thread)

Posted on 2024-10-20, 07:43

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

Were the pork brains from a can and in milk ? Honestly, I would be willing to try some except for my fear of prion diseases (though pork is apparently not very susceptible to those). Nah, it was raw from a butcher's shop. As far as I know prion disease is not transmissible between species with the …

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Re: What are you eating/drinking? (the vogons food thread)

Posted on 2024-10-18, 17:02

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by RandomStranger

in Milliways

in Milliways

Scrambled eggs on onions and pork brains. Filename IMG_20241018_183534.jpg File size 896.32 KiB Views 200 views File license CC-BY-4.0 People usually feel aversion to it eating brains, but it's actually very delicious with a nice creamy texture.

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Re: Using Ethernet on Windows 9x/XP PCs without connecting to the Internet

Posted on 2024-10-18, 14:35

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by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You have several ways. You can get an older router to dedicate it to your retro network. You can set up a VLAN with no internet access for your retro network. Any half decent router has parental control options. You just select the devices you don't want to have internet access and block them.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2024-10-17, 18:27

by

by RandomStranger

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Some weeks ago I caught wind of having an "old PC" that was used to record phone calls. It's still in our inventory, but moved to a different section years ago to do what it supposed to do. Until it was decommissioned, so it was there collecting dust in danger of getting lost. And since it's our …

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