acl wrote on 2022-11-07, 16:51:

Yesterday, i cleaned some cards i "recently" bought. Not very recently actually because i took a break from my retro hobbies aft […]
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Yesterday, i cleaned some cards i "recently" bought.
Not very recently actually because i took a break from my retro hobbies after an very frustrating incident with a GTX 7800 512MB.

I love that 2005 card. Twice the memory and hugely overclocked in comparison to the standard 256MB version.
But it's not a super common card. I had one for some years. It worked well, but i wanted an SLI.
I finally found some in US. Cheap, but untested. Less than 15$ each. But adding shipping and taxes raised the price to 50$ a piece.
I badly wanted my SLI so ordered two. To have a total of 3. Just in case one would be dead on arrival.
Waited a month. The two cards arrived. On artifacting, the other was fine.
With the one i already had, i still had my SLI.
Frequencies were a bit different. So i moded a bios with nibitor.
I tested the SLI. Everything worked ! Awesome. After so many years !
I cleaned everything, changed paste, pads. Fan lubrification. Good to go !

I took the time to install everything in the case. I started F.E.A.R.
After less than 1h of gameplay. Computer reboot. Card not detected.
The "old" 7800 GTX 512 just died live in game.

The same week, i received a broken mainboard and an 8800 Ultra that started artifacting a few days after.
So... i just stopped retro activities for a week or two... i was too pissed.

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But on the bright side, i was able to repair my Soltek SL-54U1 SS7 motherboard (bios was missing)

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I found a nice standard Radeon 8500 (not LE, not AIW, not DV, just the "normal"one)

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I cut two of my fingers cleaning the dissipator. It's probably what ATI calls "cutting edge DirectX 8.1 graphics".
Yes, definitely razor sharp.

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You can always do the baking fix ...its known to work ok on them 7000 series GTX cards, you could also hit the GPU core/Vram with a heat gun to reflow the BGA. For anyone that is worried .. the card is already dead you cant make it any worse by trying this.

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-11-07, 22:03:

Had a pleasant surprise in today's mail. Currently working on a couple 386 builds and can't wait to try this out in one of them. 😁

(Does this count as retro hardware?)

This literally IS retro hardware. 😀

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-07, 20:50:

Been on an AMD KT400 motherboard binge recently. Need to stop as I've bought a fair few.

KT333 with Universal AGP is where it's at..

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-11-07, 22:03:

Had a pleasant surprise in today's mail. Currently working on a couple 386 builds and can't wait to try this out in one of them. 😁

(Does this count as retro hardware?)

*Drool*

Not that I have any use for it, but still..

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-11-08, 00:56:

You can always do the baking fix ...its known to work ok on them 7000 series GTX cards, you could also hit the GPU core/Vram with a heat gun to reflow the BGA. For anyone that is worried .. the card is already dead you cant make it any worse by trying this.

I did bake them. (once or twice, i don't remember).I generally give up after 4 bakings.
I have a pile of "schrödinger cards", neither dead or alive. Just waiting for another round of baking.
Currently the pile in my basement is made of a HD3870X2, a HD5970, a 9700 Pro, the two GTX 7800 512MB and the 8800 Ultra.
Only sweet cards 😀 But i'm not too worried. Even if i still can't repair them, i already have at least another one working for each of them (8800 Ultra apart)

I don't have a heat gun but i'm in the process of buying a new soldering station (with heat gun attachment).
So i still have hope 😀

Yeah working 8800 Ultras are hard to come by, they tend to list on the bay for not horrible amounts but still more than what you should be paying for 8000 series GPUs that have been left untested.

I actually prefer grabbing 8800 GTX cards and over clocking them a little to get Ultra performance, the 8800 GTX cards tend to be a bit more reliable.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-11-08, 07:52:

KT333 with Universal AGP is where it's at..

KT333 with Universal AGP AND integrated USB 2.0 you mean!

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-11-07, 22:03:

Had a pleasant surprise in today's mail. Currently working on a couple 386 builds and can't wait to try this out in one of them. 😁

(Does this count as retro hardware?)

This IS exactly a retro hardware ("retro hardware" by definition basically means - contrary to how people (improperly) use this term - a MODERN hardware made to look or work like vintage hardware).

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-11-07, 22:03:

Had a pleasant surprise in today's mail. Currently working on a couple 386 builds and can't wait to try this out in one of them. 😁

(Does this count as retro hardware?)

It's ISA, so yes of course it's retro.

Just received a Slot A board, GA-7IXE.
USB ports were professionally desoldered and just hanging by one pin with a blob of solder.
Boots fine.

I'll probably start a new topic with pics and benchmarks, I'm interested to see how it does as it has the AMD chipset.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-11-08, 07:52:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-07, 20:50:

Been on an AMD KT400 motherboard binge recently. Need to stop as I've bought a fair few.

KT333 with Universal AGP is where it's at..

Oh, I thought the higher the number, the better. KT600 boards are non existent on eBay UK
Weird thing is HWinfo is reporting my K7VT4A Pro as a KT600 chipset

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-08, 21:13:

Oh, I thought the higher the number, the better.

KT400 boards are 1.5V AGP only.
KT333 can run 1.5V and 3.3V AGP.
But watch out! Some KT333 are actually downclocked KT400 and don't have universal AGP.
Why is this important? Voodoo! They're all AGP 3.3V.

Why yes, I will take 2009 overkill for $10. Finally have myself a 5970 2GB.

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-11-08, 23:34:

KT400 boards are 1.5V AGP only. KT333 can run 1.5V and 3.3V AGP. But watch out! Some KT333 are actually downclocked KT400 and do […]
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gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-08, 21:13:

Oh, I thought the higher the number, the better.

KT400 boards are 1.5V AGP only.
KT333 can run 1.5V and 3.3V AGP.
But watch out! Some KT333 are actually downclocked KT400 and don't have universal AGP.
Why is this important? Voodoo! They're all AGP 3.3V.

Ah, I see.. never really paid attention to agp voltages. Good to know. Good job I didn't try my voodoo3 2000 on this motherboard. It's been sitting in my 440bx board

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-09, 05:24:

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-11-08, 23:34:

KT400 boards are 1.5V AGP only. KT333 can run 1.5V and 3.3V AGP. But watch out! Some KT333 are actually downclocked KT400 and do […]
Show full quote

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-08, 21:13:

Oh, I thought the higher the number, the better.

KT400 boards are 1.5V AGP only.
KT333 can run 1.5V and 3.3V AGP.
But watch out! Some KT333 are actually downclocked KT400 and don't have universal AGP.
Why is this important? Voodoo! They're all AGP 3.3V.

Ah, I see.. never really paid attention to agp voltages. Good to know. Good job I didn't try my voodoo3 2000 on this motherboard. It's been sitting in my 440bx board

You wouldn't be able to insert it anyway, they are keyed differently.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-11-09, 06:42:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-09, 05:24:

Ah, I see.. never really paid attention to agp voltages. Good to know. Good job I didn't try my voodoo3 2000 on this motherboard. It's been sitting in my 440bx board

You wouldn't be able to insert it anyway, they are keyed differently.

Exactly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Gra … t#Compatibility

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-11-09, 11:17:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-11-09, 06:42:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-11-09, 05:24:

Ah, I see.. never really paid attention to agp voltages. Good to know. Good job I didn't try my voodoo3 2000 on this motherboard. It's been sitting in my 440bx board

You wouldn't be able to insert it anyway, they are keyed differently.

Exactly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Gra … t#Compatibility

Some more info on AGP: http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

I believe I an the only one in the world with a Voodoo Banshee that has a notch for 1.5V.

Interesting case of someone cutting a voltage notch into an AGP card

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-11-10, 06:16:

I believe I an the only one in the world with a Voodoo Banshee that has a notch for 1.5V.

Interesting case of someone cutting a voltage notch into an AGP card

I had a Voodoo 3 1000 that had the 1.5V notch cut to it. I don't know why, I don't know whether the card worked that or not. I did not care or dare to find out. I have passed it onto another collector since, but it still amuses me that this exists:

That is very amusing. Maybe it was made by the same crazy person that cut a notch into mine. I've never tried it in a 1.5V slot either, and I doubt I ever will.