VOGONS


Bought these (retro) hardware today

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Reply 35562 of 53280, by Xicor

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Last week I puled the trigger on this cool pc that I found on a local ad site:

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It contains a nice mobo, the DFI LanParty NFII Ultra B with a Athlon XP 2500+, plus a nice Geforce 4 ti 4200. I didn't known at the time the state of the components, and mainly did it just for the mobo, unsurprisingly the fault was a horrible PSU gone bad. The DC-DC converters on the vcore are in need of some tlc. The odd thing is those caps are nippon chemicon branded, probably a fake Chinese rip-off.

LanParty.jpg

A couple of days later a friend donated a bunch of computer parts, all circa 2001, from is first computer. All parts are in good working order.

ECS K7VZA with an Athlon 1200:

K7VZA.jpg

Geforce FX5200 and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SB0090:

cards.jpg

And finally a not so old Geforce 295GTX for 20€:

295GTX.jpg

Love those dual GPU cards, they are crazy awesome !!!

Reply 35563 of 53280, by Predator99

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Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-14, 09:01:
Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? :-) Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with com […]
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Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? 😀
Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with composite out connected via the feature connector?

s-l1600 (1).jpg
s-l1600.jpg

"Small" wonder box arrived. Actually its not a small but a big wonder! Great stuff in good condition inside...!

I will start with the full length cards. Ever seen a more beautiful graphics card...? This is a TSENG ET2000 EGA with some composite decoder (?) on the fetaure connector and RAM expansion (?) ...

IMG_0333r.jpg
IMG_0335r.jpg

Reply 35564 of 53280, by imi

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I didn't even know there was a Tseng ET2000 x3 ... I mean it only makes sense, but still.

Reply 35565 of 53280, by NautilusComputer

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This was given to me after old computers came up in conversation - so it's not exactly 'found' but not 'bought' either.

350 MHz Pentium II

64 MB PC100 SDRAM

EPoX EP-61BXA-M motherboard

Intel i740 AGP Graphics Card

Creative CT7210 DXR2 PCI DVD decoder card

Amquest(?) FBWS-5614JS3 56K ISA modem/voice card (Rockwell SPK/LINE out and Mic in)

AOpen AW35 ISA sound card (Crystal CX4237B, CS9236-CL H/W Wavetable)

Seagate Medalist 8641 (8.6 GB) HDD

Creative DVD2240E 2x DVD/20x CD drive

ATAPI ZIP100 drive (haven't removed it for sticker check yet)

Unknown tape drive; just says '250 MB' on the front (haven't removed it for sticker check yet)

3.5" standard floppy drive

Reply 35566 of 53280, by Predator99

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Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-20, 19:07:
"Small" wonder box arrived. Actually its not a small but a big wonder! Great stuff in good condition inside...! […]
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Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-14, 09:01:
Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? :-) Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with com […]
Show full quote

Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? 😀
Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with composite out connected via the feature connector?

s-l1600 (1).jpg
s-l1600.jpg

"Small" wonder box arrived. Actually its not a small but a big wonder! Great stuff in good condition inside...!

I will start with the full length cards. Ever seen a more beautiful graphics card...? This is a TSENG ET2000 EGA with some composite decoder (?) on the fetaure connector and RAM expansion (?) ...

IMG_0333r.jpg
IMG_0335r.jpg

... 2 AST graphics cards (EGA /CGA(?)).

IMG_0336r.jpg

Reply 35567 of 53280, by devius

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Nice hauls everyone! The ET2000 is especially cool though

Reply 35569 of 53280, by Predator99

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Yes, indeed...

Reply 35570 of 53280, by chrismeyer6

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NautilusComputer wrote on 2020-08-20, 20:14:
This was given to me after old computers came up in conversation - so it's not exactly 'found' but not 'bought' either. […]
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This was given to me after old computers came up in conversation - so it's not exactly 'found' but not 'bought' either.

350 MHz Pentium II

64 MB PC100 SDRAM

EPoX EP-61BXA-M motherboard

Intel i740 AGP Graphics Card

Creative CT7210 DXR2 PCI DVD decoder card

Amquest(?) FBWS-5614JS3 56K ISA modem/voice card (Rockwell SPK/LINE out and Mic in)

AOpen AW35 ISA sound card (Crystal CX4237B, CS9236-CL H/W Wavetable)

Seagate Medalist 8641 (8.6 GB) HDD

Creative DVD2240E 2x DVD/20x CD drive

ATAPI ZIP100 drive (haven't removed it for sticker check yet)

Unknown tape drive; just says '250 MB' on the front (haven't removed it for sticker check yet)

3.5" standard floppy drive

That's a nice system you got. Have you tried powering it on yet?

Reply 35571 of 53280, by mkarcher

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Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-20, 20:49:

Yes, indeed...

If this is intended to be a reply to "bottom one is CGA only", the answer is no. Bottom one has a 16.257 MHz crystal, so it can do MDA timings, and it has 64KiB of RAM, so the bottom one is definitely able to be Hercules compatible. It also has the MDA-like parallel port included.

It's an "AST Preview!(TM)" card that is sold as Hercules compatible, see e.g. https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/198509_Byte … rsary_Issue.pdf, page 19 (a full page advertisement for that card).

Reply 35572 of 53280, by imi

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I stand corrected... even though it was only a wild guess and I honestly didn't even think about MDA ^^

Reply 35573 of 53280, by Unknown_K

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Xicor wrote on 2020-08-20, 18:46:

It contains a nice mobo, the DFI LanParty NFII Ultra B with a Athlon XP 2500+, plus a nice Geforce 4 ti 4200. I didn't known at the time the state of the components, and mainly did it just for the mobo, unsurprisingly the fault was a horrible PSU gone bad. The DC-DC converters on the vcore are in need of some tlc. The odd thing is those caps are nippon chemicon branded, probably a fake Chinese rip-off.

Fake or not all that hot air coming off the heatsink onto the capacitors will lower life.

Collector of old computers, hardware, and software

Reply 35574 of 53280, by NautilusComputer

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chrismeyer6 wrote on 2020-08-20, 21:19:

That's a nice system you got. Have you tried powering it on yet?

I've cleaned the dust out of it all and notice two caps beginning to bulge, but only just barely - decided to push it. Also noted that the heatsink on the northbridge needs new paste - it was(is) completely loose. It did boot into BIOS, though!

Now if only I can get a motherboard for this Evergreen chip sitting on my desk that's been taunting me since I discovered it while cleaning up from my predecessor, I'll be happy as a clam.

Reply 35575 of 53280, by Mephusto

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NautilusComputer wrote on 2020-08-21, 03:27:
chrismeyer6 wrote on 2020-08-20, 21:19:

That's a nice system you got. Have you tried powering it on yet?

I've cleaned the dust out of it all and notice two caps beginning to bulge, but only just barely - decided to push it. Also noted that the heatsink on the northbridge needs new paste - it was(is) completely loose. It did boot into BIOS, though!

Now if only I can get a motherboard for this Evergreen chip sitting on my desk that's been taunting me since I discovered it while cleaning up from my predecessor, I'll be happy as a clam.

Hey hopefully those caps wont mess anything up, and good luck with the motherboard, hope you find one. I've got to dust out my recent pickups but I haven't had a day off since I got them. I'm hoping all looks good and I can test them out

Reply 35576 of 53280, by yawetaG

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NautilusComputer wrote on 2020-08-20, 20:14:

This was given to me after old computers came up in conversation - so it's not exactly 'found' but not 'bought' either.

I love that sliding motherboard tray that comes out with all of the cards still in place! Looks like something from a SF movie... 😁

Reply 35577 of 53280, by Predator99

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Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-20, 19:07:
Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-14, 09:01:
Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? :-) Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with com […]
Show full quote

Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? 😀
Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with composite out connected via the feature connector?

s-l1600 (1).jpg
s-l1600.jpg

"Small" wonder box arrived. Actually its not a small but a big wonder! Great stuff in good condition inside...!

I will start with the full length cards. Ever seen a more beautiful graphics card...? This is a TSENG ET2000 EGA with some composite decoder (?) on the fetaure connector and RAM expansion (?) ...

MCA ALR Chips VGA
286 SBC - already got the same one not long ago...
MFM Controller

IMG_0337r.jpg
IMG_0339r.jpg

Reply 35578 of 53280, by OldCat

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dionb wrote on 2020-08-19, 20:30:

Everywhere I look, it says Doom doesn't use FPU in any shape or form. Carmack supposedly referenced it explicitly when discussing Quake (which does), but I can't find the reference/quote anywhere.

So it's unlikely FPU would make the difference. But something clearly was. My best bet would be cache: a 386 system with 387 clearly had no expenses spared, so probably was equipped with cache. Cheaper 386 systems were not necessarily equipped with cache, indeed, 386SX systems very rarely were. Cache makes a big difference in performance and is one of the reasons 486 tend to be faster than 386 (period correct code rarely if ever used the extra instructions, but the 1kB L1 cache was always utilized).

Video card could also matter, although with late ISA systems the bus tended to be more of a bottleneck regardless of VGA chip, at least in DOS.

mkarcher wrote on 2020-08-19, 21:41:

The 386 systems that were running Doom badly likely were not late ISA systems, and something like a TVGA 9000 or an OTI077 was quite common those days. Most of them were far from being limited by ISA bandwidth.

Thank you for your answers, gentlemen, very informative. A combination of cache and good graphics card could probably elevate that particular 386 to an "almost 486" status.

Reply 35579 of 53280, by imi

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Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-21, 12:32:
MCA ALR Chips VGA 286 SBC - already got the same one not long ago... MFM Controller […]
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Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-20, 19:07:
Predator99 wrote on 2020-08-14, 09:01:
Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? :-) Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with com […]
Show full quote

Sellers pics: How many small wonders do you count? 😀
Very intersting also the card on the top: I think this is an EGA with composite out connected via the feature connector?

s-l1600 (1).jpg
s-l1600.jpg

"Small" wonder box arrived. Actually its not a small but a big wonder! Great stuff in good condition inside...!

I will start with the full length cards. Ever seen a more beautiful graphics card...? This is a TSENG ET2000 EGA with some composite decoder (?) on the fetaure connector and RAM expansion (?) ...

MCA ALR Chips VGA
286 SBC - already got the same one not long ago...
MFM Controller

IMG_0337r.jpg
IMG_0339r.jpg

I still can't believe you just snatched this away x3 ... that MCA card is beautiful.