VOGONS


Reply 20 of 45, by mpe

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

For a long time I regretted donating my Gravis Ultrasound ACE to a random guy in about 2004. The one I was actually using in 90s.

The person was running a museum website about sound cards, somehow found I had it and asked nicely. I had no interest in it at that time and sent it to him it for free. The website eventually vanished and the ACE became quite a sough after item.

Everything rectified a few months back when I snapped a GUS ACE in a group of assorted boring cards for about $20 or so 😀

Blog|NexGen 586|S4

Reply 21 of 45, by chinny22

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Everyone is different so what I may not regret getting rid of something that someone else would.

I would say hold onto everything with any sentimental value. Like that SB16 or even PC you had since new . How many people here have spent loads trying to recreate a system from their past.
Everything else I'd hold onto anything your not sure about for 20 years if possible
after 20 years its well within retro era and you'll know for sure if you have any interest in it or not. For example I'd still happily get rid of anything pre 486 as it doesn't interest me even though its somewhat rare.
But I do somewhat regret throwing out P3 era hardware which is about the 20 years old and already actively seeking newer hardware

Reply 22 of 45, by gex85

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

My storage space is limited as well, so I have to prioritize and sell the items (mainly the bulky ones like cases, monitors and complete systems) that I have no real use for.
I don't regret it (as of today) because I like to think that the new owners can probably put those things to good use. I would for sure regret it if I just took these items to the scrappers, but as long as they end up being used or in someone else's collection, it's fine with me. Just can't keep buying stuff without re-selling some of it from time to time.

My retro computers

Reply 23 of 45, by boxpressed

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Come to think, I do regret not having my old M Technology R534G Mustang mobo with Cyrix 6x86-PR200. I don't know what happened to them. They might still be in storage somewhere or they might have been tossed. It's fun going back and reading my old Usenet posts from 1998 about it. I tried to coax every last ounce of performance out of it, but it just wasn't suited for games like Quake 2 and Unreal. I upgraded to a K6-2 350, which was better but still not great for 3D gaming.

Reply 24 of 45, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I regret selling a Chaintech 6BTM motherboard that I was using back in '99. Still have the cardboard box.

Also, I wish I hadn't sold my Leadtek GeForce 3 Ti200 from a few years later.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 25 of 45, by creepingnet

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Funny you mention it but me and the wife were talking about this today - because she thinnks I really need to hold onto things as long as I have space.

I go through a phase every few years or so where I decide to "downsize" the collection, and more than half the time there's a bunch of stuff I miss and then end up spending more $$ getting back afterwards. This has happened several times.

Regrets?...I have a lot, I've been doing this hobby that's been a good exercise for my IT pro life for 20 years now....
- I really regret selling my Compaq Deskpro 386, it was one of the early 16MHz models from 1986 and an AWESOME machine, and I had the matching amber mono monitor for it to boot (running in EGA no less).
- I also regret the XT I sold at the same time, it was destroyed by USPS in shipping and I had to refund the buyer all his money
- Sometimes I do wish I had the IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 back too, the fire damaged one.. another cool setup I sold off to only have "one" of each generation at most - had the 8514 CRT, and first gen PS/2 mouse, and Model "M"
- I do regret letting go of the IBM ThinkPad 755CD I had but it was so worn out and beat up it looked like it was about to crumble to pieces any moment before I parted it out, I used that as my main laptop from 2005-2008.
- A lot of the old 486's I had because I had some cool ones, and I LOVE 486 era hardware the best.

Some stuff I might be able to get back, like the original mother board from Creeping Net 1 (Zeos 386/486 upgradable systems main board), and I think my AT&T Safari 3151 might be living in my childhood closet as well. When I moved out of my childhood home in 2005 I left a few things there. Not sure if I'll ever get them back or not though. The AT&T was dead when I left it up there but I migth be able to fix it with my current skillset.

I was discussing moving possibly to using just NEC Versas for the 486 and Pentium hardware as they all can share the same docking station - thusly saving space. Then keeping the GEM 286 for the XT and AT era stuff and adding a Tandy 3-voice card to it. But my wife is partial to the little Mac SE, likes the Tandy for it's "80's ness"....wife says "I know computers are one of your biggest things so don't rush into it (this time), because you'll just end up replacing the things you miss or want back. As long as you have space for it, I say keep it."....sometimes having an S.O. can really help.....also, might be able to go more "tech tree" this year at xmas (we did a technology theme to our x-mas tree last year and it looked cool as heck).

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 26 of 45, by SodaSuccubus

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I have (and am still in the process) of sorting n' selling most of my vintage console collection to fund vintage PC endeavors.

There's allways that initial feeling of guilt and a little bit of regret later. But I find the minute I have the money in my hands and spent off to a hobby I more enjoy, the better I feel in the end.

In a decent believer in the whole "If it's not being used and not emotionally attaching. It should be sold for cash to put elsewhere" mentality.

My Sega stuff is staying with me. I couldn't ever sell that.

Reply 28 of 45, by Miphee

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I also arrived at crossroads last night.
On one hand I like collecting retro stuff and all those interesting parts.
On the other hand I'm not really interested in testing them or playing with them like other people do. I buy the parts, learn about them, build the computers I want, set them up and that's that. It rarely offers real challenge because they are all the same:
- get the part, see if it's working
- clean the part
- repair the part
- put them in a case
- fiddle with jumpers
- install OS
- get mad because some part has a hidden fault
- get another part, install it
- done.
I have 30 builds sitting on the shelves and other than the case they are all pretty much the same.
You know what's the most challenging? Getting the parts for a fair price and avoiding people who want to offload their faulty garbage on me. It's a chore, sometimes an expensive one. Nearly every item I see are sold as "untested" and people still pay insane amounts for them. I barely see any tested hardware and when I do they are overpriced.
I guess I just thought that my retro PC phase will last a little longer but I'm rapidly losing interest. The only exceptions are special hardware like old workstations, servers, terminals and foreign systems but those are extremely rare. I also decided to only collect CPU-series, those barely take up any space and a complete collection is just cool (and frustrating when it's incomplete).
My main push is my old flame, a Lada 1200. I wanted to own and restore one ever since I was a kid. I need a new challenge.
I'm not going to sell anything though, because my retro PC phase might come back a few years later. Not going to make the same mistake twice.

Attachments

  • 1200.jpg
    Filename
    1200.jpg
    File size
    86.62 KiB
    Views
    919 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 29 of 45, by astonsmith

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

It's funny this thread has come back up, as a few months ago I realised I have completely lost interest in the hardware side of retro.

I have (like many others here) piles of parts and expansion boards etc. and I just want it all gone, all out of my life.

I am torn between just chucking it all into scrap, or trying to sell off bits and pieces. e.g. in this thread it is mentioned that ISA sound boards are becoming rarer, and I have several. I think I'd feel guilty throwing those away knowing they could be useful to someone else. On the other hand, I don't need the money, and I don't want to spend the time on it. I especially don't want a situation where I have sold an item just to have it returned as faulty, etc. So I just keep putting off dealing with it.

Urgh.

Reply 30 of 45, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
astonsmith wrote on 2020-09-14, 11:26:

I think I'd feel guilty throwing those away knowing they could be useful to someone else. On the other hand, I don't need the money, and I don't want to spend the time on it. I especially don't want a situation where I have sold an item just to have it returned as faulty, etc. So I just keep putting off dealing with it.

You could give the hardware away.

There might be someone on the forum near your location who would be happy to take it off your hands.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 31 of 45, by Errius

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
EvieSigma wrote on 2020-05-28, 02:15:

It's not particularly retro but I've really grown to regret selling my Dell XPS 720. I miss that beast

That is a BTX machine IIRC. Can't reuse the case. Waste.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 32 of 45, by Miphee

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-09-14, 11:44:

There might be someone on the forum near your location who would be happy to take it off your hands.

I can hear a guy screaming to his wife somewhere: "get the kids to your mother we are flying to astonsmith’s place right now!!!"

Reply 33 of 45, by SpectriaForce

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I'm still in the process of selling pretty much all my Nintendo stuff. I don't regret it at all. I wasn't looking forward to replacing all the batteries in the cartridges and I just don't use it anymore. I use the proceeds to buy moarrr pc hardware.

Reply 34 of 45, by cyclone3d

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Miphee wrote on 2020-09-14, 12:27:
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-09-14, 11:44:

There might be someone on the forum near your location who would be happy to take it off your hands.

I can hear a guy screaming to his wife somewhere: "get the kids to your mother we are flying to astonsmith’s place right now!!!"

This right here... HAHAHA.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 35 of 45, by EvieSigma

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Errius wrote on 2020-09-14, 11:51:
EvieSigma wrote on 2020-05-28, 02:15:

It's not particularly retro but I've really grown to regret selling my Dell XPS 720. I miss that beast

That is a BTX machine IIRC. Can't reuse the case. Waste.

In the time since that post I managed to get another one, heh.

Reply 36 of 45, by clueless1

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

There are certain eras that I have interest in, hardware from those eras I will not get rid of. But even valuable stuff from eras of less interest I have no problem getting rid of. I sold a V5 5500 without looking back, for example. And gave away an AMD slot A system (cpu was good, mobo had blown caps). I'm also about to give away a P4 system with a GF 6800GS AGP. I could probably sell that card for decent money, but I don't want to deal with the hassle of finding a buyer and shipping.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 37 of 45, by douglar

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I have no problem selling stuff to people that want it & use it. I can deal with that a lot better than watching boxes of parts collect dust, year after year, while their capacitors slowly dry out. That's depressing.

My XT is probably the second to the last thing that I'll sell, and I'll be sad when it goes, but all I do is turn it on once a year to see if it still works, so its way more about the memories than the activities at this point. And when I sell it, it will make space on my work bench to start messing with the old radio shacks that were left to me by an estate.

Reply 39 of 45, by Socket3

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I sold most of my 3dfx card collection a few years ago when my son was born. Most of it went to another collector in my country. The collection included rare cards... several complete V2 SLi kits, couple of Voodoo 3 3500TV with dongles, one boxed, a Voodoo 4 and a couple of Voodoo 5 5500 AGP cards.... also had a few Voodoo Rush cards, one with the MX 2D core, several PCI Banshee cards, and so on...

I still regret it to this day, but it was either sell it or take out another loan.

Should have taken out another loan.