I would say definitely graphics cards.

Voodoo 5 6000, Quantum 3D, Evans and Sutherland Simfusion, BitBoy Oy, there are so many "most wanted" ones.

IBM 51** and ISA sound cards (rare / special ones: not the bulk highly integrated junk).

1st generation 3D hardware, especially boxed
Everything Roland

Three letters:

GUS

Diamond Edge 3D complete sets (i.e. with Saturn controllers and games), Pentium Pro gear, and yeah Gravis UltraSound.

Sutekh94 wrote:

Three letters:

GUS

This times a million. Also any Roland hardware.

From my experience...

Sound
GUS (Classic, ACE, MAX)
Roland LAPC-I and GM Daughterboards in general
Roland SCC-1/SCC-1A/B
Roland Modules (CM-32L, CM-64, CM-500)
Roland Midi Interfaces (MPU401/AT, and others)
Early Sound Blasters (CT-1300A/B, CT-1320(ABCU), especially with CMS chips (boxed cards as well)
Adlib (1987/1990) and Adlib Gold
8-bit Media Vision PAS/Thunderboard
Various older Turtle Beach audio cards (Monterey, Maui, Monte Carlo, Multisound Classic)

Video
Rare 3DFX cards, especially if boxed (Voodoo4 4500 PCI/AGP/MAC) and 5500 (MAC), Voodoo Rush and Banshee
Higher-end 3DFX Cards - Canopus/Quantum3D
Creative 3DO Blaster
Early NVIDIA cards (NVidia NV1)
Rendition Verite-based cards
NEC/PowerVR PCX1/PCX2-based cards (Videologic Neon250 / Videologic Apocalypse 3D, 3Dx, 5D, 5D Sonic)
3DLabs GLint-based cards like the Creative 3D Blaster VLB
Any TSENG ET4000/W32P-based VLB video cards

CPUs
Some of the more rare CPUs (Cyrix chips, IBM-branded Cyrix Chips)

Stuff that had good performance or was otherwise popular in its era (even if the popularity was for being quirky), and wasn't produced in large numbers (including unreleased products). That seems to categorize a lot of the parts listed here, and a lot of the parts I could think of that aren't listed here (like GeForce FX 5800 Ultra or XGI Volari cards). The other side of the coin is also stuff that's been made scarce by aggressive scrapping/salvage, like Pentium Pro hardware.

That isn't to say that "common" hardware isn't sought-after though - Pentium IIIs have become fairly popular recently, but they're not particularly hard to find (at least currently).

Looks like the consensus is... Anything roland and/or any rare sound card or video card.

I would say anything which is rare:
CPUs:
Intel 4004, IBM BL 486slc3-100, Cyrix 486DRx2-66
Sound cards:
GUS, Roland, MCA SB
Memory expansion boards:
Intel above board, AST Mega plus
Video cards:
anything NuBus, ET4000/W32p
Controllers:
Unidisk for Apple IIe, 8-bit SCSI TMC850M

I would say that these sound cards are subjects of undying interest and are sold for crazy prices:

Ad Lib Gold 1000
Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum
Roland LAPC-I
IBM PC Music Feature card
Ensoniq Soundscape Elite

I agree with rare Sound hardware (i.e. Roland, GUS and AdLib especially) and rare Video Card hardware (i.e. Voodoo, etc.) being at the top of the list, but I have to say that Tandy 1000 hardware, whether it is expansion cards, accessories, or the various Tandy systems themselves are VERY soughtafter and seem to sell right away when they are at a reasonable price.

Despite not being a big fan of Apple, I have to also say that a lot of old Apple Macinotsh and Apple II stuff seems to sell for crazy prices as well.

I have to agree with PeterLI about IBM 51** hardware as well...seems to me be super hot the last few years as well.

*EDIT*...and is it just me, or is everyone and their dog into hardcore retro game console collecting now too?? I have always been collecting console stuff, but now it seems everyone, young and old, girl or guy, man or beast, is trying to get their hands on any game console they can...I used to find stuff in thrift shops all the time, but now there is usually just empty dusty shelves with crappy xbox (one) and ps2 sports games leftovers. I swear in the last few months I have been treating a lot of my old retro gear and console stuff like gold considering how quickly it's becoming rare. I have a feeling that a lot of the younger generation now is into retro gaming more that people from my (a bit older) generation ever was...I don't have any facts to support this notion but it really does seem that way.

Videos like this on youtube, where people have shelves upon shelves of games and retro hardware has become commonplace and does not seem to be letting up at all...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGb7ITQJfQ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLuUDXlHPy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdI8wdP0emo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTIoEWDfH_c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgNxBTww-ag

I always throught that serious retro hardware and game collecting would have taken a long time to catch on at a large scale, but I think I have been proven wrong over the last few years.

I think it's awesome that people are collecting though and I think interest in retro hardware is growing exponentially...that may mean that retro gear will get much more rare, much more quickly that I originally thought.

I wonder how hard it would be to pick up some of the older retro gaming hardware 5 years from now?

retrofanatic wrote:

I wonder how hard it would be to pick up some of the older retro gaming hardware 5 years from now?

The landscape seems to change and shift every few years. It's hard to judge.

A few years ago, nobody cared at all P-III's (except for maybe the Tualatin's that still had some useful life) and, to a lesser extent, P-II's. That's all different now.

Whatever isn't easily found at the moment that people used to like gaming with. Go look at that is clogging the recyclers at the moment and make a note of it, in 7-10 years it will be commanding some money because it was all recycled.

DEC x86 workstations?

In the past year I have been selling off a lot of my hardware on eBay. Within the first two months I sold all of my 3DFX graphics cards and ISA sound blaster cards (Regardless of the models). My Roland hardware also didn't take too long to sell. I actually found that anything of mine that someone else posted in the Vogons eBay thread sold almost straight away as well. For this reason, if anything I'm usually ummming and ahhhing about appears on the eBay thread, I purchase it straight away as I know my fellow vogoners are going to jump on it like seaguls after some discarded hot chips. A little tip as well, if you own a rare piece of hardware such as the MPU-401/AT, don't be afraid to list it for a little more $ as someone somewhere is going to buy it. This is where most sellers go wrong, they don't offer international shipping. Many times I've been willing to pay the seller a high amount for something yet he/she has come back saying "sorry, I don't offer international shipping". Then I see it for sale for several months afterwards.

leileilol wrote:

DEC x86 workstations?

Absolutely, Venturis, Prioris, Rainbow100, Decmate. I personally have a brand new Dec3000/300LX, although it's Alpha and will run only tru64 or VMS.

I used to work with them we had a pile up to the roof of decommissioned dec x86 workstations, I guess they all ended up in the dumpster or recycled.

The following is sought after in the Apple II world:
-Any CPU accelerator
-SCSI cards (this is becoming less of a factor now that alternative storage solutions are available)
-The Unidisk 3.5" drive (plug and play 3.5" drive for Apple IIc users )
-Any high end Apple IIgs sound card like the AE Audio Animator
-Any Apple II sound card like the Mockingboard (clones are available) or the AE Phasor.
-The Apple Video Overlay Card, mostly because its rare. Very little software takes advantage of it.
-The SecondSight SVGA card, mostly because its rare. Very little software takes advantage of it.
-The Apple 3.5" Disk controller card, aka the FDHD controller. Allows one to connect a 1.44MB drive an Apple II

Anything for the Commodore Amiga might as well be gold plated for the prices that stuff sells for. Makes the Apple II stuff look cheap!

vmunix wrote:

leileilol wrote:

DEC x86 workstations?

Absolutely, Venturis, Prioris, Rainbow100, Decmate. I personally have a brand new Dec3000/300LX, although it's Alpha and will run only tru64 or VMS.

Don't these also run Windows NT 4.0?