Here's some of my computer setup. Its a little messier right now, but the messier the better 😜

This one is my modern computer. i5-2400 and a Radeon HD 7970

These are my older computers. The one on the desk is my 486DX2, the one on the left below is my Pentium MMX 200mhz and the one on the right is my Pentium 75Mhz

Is the Dimension 8200 using a normal ATX board?You could use an micro-ATX Socket 462 board or a Socket 370 board.

PcBytes wrote:

Is the Dimension 8200 using a normal ATX board?You could use an micro-ATX Socket 462 board or a Socket 370 board.

If you're asking about mine, it's using the Dell board (ATX-ish) that it shipped with. i850 chipset and PC800 RAMBUS memory. It's down because I need to buy a PSU for it and a standard ATX PSU won't work.

Yeah, ATX-ish is the best way to describe it. You can't put a standard board into a clamshell Dell case without a hell of a lot of modification. It looks similar to ATX at first glance, but in reality it's nowhere close. However, some of the lower-end models, like the Dimension 2400 and 4600, are regular mATX.

It's down because I need to buy a PSU for it and a standard ATX PSU won't work.

The HEC 350TA will fit... they're not fantastic PSUs, but they're not bad either. Some of the older Sparkle units will also work, but they can be a bit tough to find.

Though, personally, I just take a Dremel to the back of the case so that any random ATX unit will fit... the mounting holes are the same as ATX, you just have to remove some metal to clear the power connector and on/off switch.

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

The HEC 350TA will fit... they're not fantastic PSUs, but they're not bad either. Some of the older Sparkle units will also work, but they can be a bit tough to find.

Though, personally, I just take a Dremel to the back of the case so that any random ATX unit will fit... the mounting holes are the same as ATX, you just have to remove some metal to clear the power connector and on/off switch.

That's not the problem. The problem is that Dell, in their infinite trolling, decided to use a different pin-out for their power supplies, even though they use the standard ATX connector, for a number of their machines. This means voltage where it shouldn't be, resulting in a fried motherboard.

That said, I've read conflicting reports on the Dimension 8200's PSU. I've read in some places that it's non-standard and some have it as standard ATX. To be safe, I'm going to buy a Dell PSU with the same part number for the machine.

Nope, it is absolutely normal ATX. They quit with the weird pinout the same time they switched to using the grey cases. The servers and high-end workstations still kinda do their own thing, as do some of the SFF machines, but all their regular desktops starting with the P4 machines (and a few of the last P3s, like the GX150) will take standard power supplies.

I'm surprised there's not more posts on this topic....c'mon guys, show off your setups...I'm always looking at other blogs to find good pics of cool computer setups, but most are for console game setups (which are still cool), but I want to see more retro PC's. It's always great to get ideas from the best site for retrocomputing.

Here is my computer area, a bit messy, as I have been repairing and testing a couple of old computers.
I do love thrift store finds. I am not sure how to post photos but there is the flickr stream to the two photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40635833@N06/123 … in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40635833@N06/123 … in/photostream/

retrofanatic wrote:

I'm surprised there's not more posts on this topic....c'mon guys, show off your setups...I'm always looking at other blogs to find good pics of cool computer setups, but most are for console game setups (which are still cool), but I want to see more retro PC's. It's always great to get ideas from the best site for retrocomputing.

I'm contemplating in creating a new computer room (which will double as a spare bedroom), but first I need someone to take the stuff out that's been filling up this particular room 🤣
After she picks up her stuff, I can create another modest recroom which will house most of my slower systems not used for lan-parties 😁

Will take a few months at best before I finish it though. Btw I just love reading this topic, just like the other topics! It's nice to see how others "solved" their "where do I put my old rigs?"-problem 😁

Current PC:
Don't bother with the case, its a random full ATX case ~2004.
Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3
16GB DDR3 Crucial Ballistics 1666MHz
AMD FX 6300 CPU @4GHz (OCing)
AMD Radeon HD 7800 2GB
3x Seagate 500GB HDD's
2x Western Digital 160GB HDD's (RAID 0)
1x Hitachi 1.5TB HDD
1 SATA DVD-ROM/CDRW
2x DVDRW-DL/CDRW
*NOTE: All optical drives are hooked up by ways of a IDE/SATA drive PCI card.

*Original Hardware
IBM PC 300GL *Celeron
Pentium II 333(OC to 366MHz) *Upgrade from Celeron 366
128MB PC100
1.44MB FD
52X CD-RW *16x CDROM
ATI Radeon VE 64mb *S3 Trio 3D 2MB
15 inch XGA Dell monitor
Turtle Beach CMI8738
Windows 98
4GB Western Digital HD

This is where I test and mess around with all my old machines:


This is my Windows XP Gaming PC
Mobo:
CPU: AthlonXP 3200+ 2.21GHz
RAM: 1GB
GPU: nVidia GeForce 6200
OS: Windows XP

This is my Windows 98 Gaming PC
Brand: Dell Dimension 4100
CPU: Pentium III 867MHz
RAM: 256MB
GPU 1: nVidia TNT2 M64 32MB
GPU 2: Voodoo 3 3000
Audio: SB Live!
OS: Windows 98SE

This is my main work area. I was going to clean it up but figured we all have messes.

Complete with German Shepherd!

This is the brains of everything. Here is where I keep my main PC, Server PC, and not being used PCs.
Main PC
Mobo: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
CPU: Core i7 950 3.07GHz
RAM: 6GB
GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 470
HDD: 128GB SSD
OS: Windows 8.1

Server PC
Mobo:
CPU: Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4GB
GPU: nVidia 9800 GTS
HDDs: 10TBs Amongst SATA Seagate HDDs
OS: Windows 7 Pro



The opened PC is my Gateway G6 and my 486 PC
DOS 6.22-Windows 3.11/Windows 95 Gaming
Brand: Gateway G6-333
CPU: Pentium II 333MHz
RAM:
GPU 1: ATI Mach 64 GT
GPU 2: Voodoo 2
Audio: AWE64 ISA
OS: Dual Boot DOS 6.22/Windows 95

DOS 6.22 Gaming
Mobo: G486HVL
CPU: 486DX 2
RAM:
GPU: CL-GD5428
Audio: ESS1868
OS: DOS 6.22 / Windows 3.11

Man, that is A LOT of bananas!

RacoonRider wrote:

Man, that is A LOT of bananas!

Those boxes are unbelievable when moving! They don't fall apart even filled with books!

Groovy bar!

rodimus80 wrote:

RacoonRider wrote:

Man, that is A LOT of bananas!

Those boxes are unbelievable when moving! They don't fall apart even filled with books!

I tend to use kiwiboxes 😜
Those are very durable and they are easy to stack 😀

Some of my sets

I use the whole house for my retro computers:

At the moment there are around 12 connected to one network of course. And here there are "in action" 😁

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQcMVcUKVOU&li … =3&feature=plcp

rodimus80 wrote:

This is where I test and mess around with all my old machines: http://i59.tinypic.com/hv80n4.jpg […]
Show full quote

This is where I test and mess around with all my old machines:

That X-Arcade stick is just an awesome peice of hardware....I have been trying to get one for a while now at a decent price for my emulation MAME gaming PC.

Don't get rid of it ever, unless you are willing to sell to me 🤣 j/k

WOW! A whole house! As well as friends to use all the computers to boot!

My current setup. I am debating whether I should add the extra leaf to the dining room table I use as my desk again. 😀

retrofanatic wrote:

rodimus80 wrote:

This is where I test and mess around with all my old machines: http://i59.tinypic.com/hv80n4.jpg […]
Show full quote

This is where I test and mess around with all my old machines:

That X-Arcade stick is just an awesome peice of hardware....I have been trying to get one for a while now at a decent price for my emulation MAME gaming PC.

Don't get rid of it ever, unless you are willing to sell to me 🤣 j/k

I had no idea the X-Arcade Stick was hard to find. I bought it about 3 years ago I believe.