VOGONS


Retro Hardware Collecting rants

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Reply 580 of 934, by TheMobRules

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appiah4 wrote on 2020-08-19, 13:05:

SB Pro has nothing going for it.

Actually it has a lot going for it... a lot of bus noise that is.

I think its fame is due mostly to the fact that it is kind of a standard for sound in 1990-95 PC games + the Creative Labs brand usually drives prices higher regardless of quality. Strangely it is also touted as a "really silent card" while early SB16s are dismissed as "noise blasters", which is something I always found puzzling given the fact that with a SB16 you can at least disable the amp (or use Line Out if present) which gets rid of almost all bus noise.

The SBPro is really nostalgic to me, it was my first sound card and I used one for a long time, but nowadays I find it difficult to ignore its shortcomings.

Reply 581 of 934, by darry

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SB Pro compatibility is a important reference/standard . IMHO, SB Pro cards as such are for collectors and nostalgic folks. Pretty much any SB Pro compatible has less noise than the real thing and compatibility has never been issue for me .

That said, the SB Pro low-pass filters give it a sonic signature that I imagine is important/pleasant to some people . They do not do anything for me .

Reply 582 of 934, by gex85

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So yesterday I was browsing the German eBay Classifieds site and came across an ad with several old motherboards, power supplies, PCI cards, etc. It was all in "untested" condition and the asking price was just below 60€ for the whole lot.
One of the boards immediately caught my eye: An ASUS P5A. Since the other parts were not very interesting, I contacted the seller and asked whether I could have the ASUS board only. He replied that it was already sold some time ago for 220€. And I was just like: What the heck? This is really insane. Why are people doing this? Spending such ridiculous amounts of money for this board? I just don't get it.
Just wanted to leave this here.

My retro computers

Reply 584 of 934, by Miphee

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gex85 wrote on 2020-08-25, 06:36:

price was just below 60€ for the whole lot.

I hate when sellers run multiple ads for the same hardware lot. By the time you win the auction he already sold half the items to his previous regulars.
I always leave a negative because the seller wasted my time.

Reply 585 of 934, by gerry

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gex85 wrote on 2020-08-25, 06:36:

So yesterday I was browsing the German eBay Classifieds site and came across an ad with several old motherboards, power supplies, PCI cards, etc. It was all in "untested" condition and the asking price was just below 60€ for the whole lot.
One of the boards immediately caught my eye: An ASUS P5A. Since the other parts were not very interesting, I contacted the seller and asked whether I could have the ASUS board only. He replied that it was already sold some time ago for 220€. And I was just like: What the heck? This is really insane. Why are people doing this? Spending such ridiculous amounts of money for this board? I just don't get it.
Just wanted to leave this here.

this is the essence of the 'problem' for those who are just interested in it as a hobby

- communities and social media create a 'scene' and focusses attention on collectables
- competition for collectables increases, naturally resulting in the highest prices
- those rising prices attract a mixture of purchase urgency and speculative purchases, driving prices even higher
- because there is a finite supply the 'bubble' never quite bursts

this happened to old consoles like the NES, it's happened to old PCs too

the upside is that there are small industries of new items that can be used like gotek, ide to sd and new-retro computers like Nuxt XT clone which can be fun

for me I'll just use what i have now (it should last a while), only spend if its very cheap and make do with VMs and DOSbox as time goes by and the old PC's fade away

Reply 586 of 934, by imi

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gex85 wrote on 2020-08-25, 06:36:

He replied that it was already sold some time ago for 220€. And I was just like: What the heck? This is really insane. Why are people doing this? Spending such ridiculous amounts of money for this board? I just don't get it.
Just wanted to leave this here.

yeah... I especially don't get it as they usually sell for way less on regular ebay itself, the last one sold for like €50 including a bunch of other stuff and even that I deemed to expensive for a single board to bid on it (though admittetly I paid more for a single board recently x3)... but who goes onto classifieds and is just like "I'll give you €220 fori it" if it's listed for a lower price anyways... this just doesn't make sense.

also I hate when sellers don't remove or otherwise mark sold items in their pictures... I fell into this trap once already 🙁

Reply 587 of 934, by Doornkaat

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gex85 wrote on 2020-08-25, 06:36:

So yesterday I was browsing the German eBay Classifieds site and came across an ad with several old motherboards, power supplies, PCI cards, etc. It was all in "untested" condition and the asking price was just below 60€ for the whole lot.
One of the boards immediately caught my eye: An ASUS P5A. Since the other parts were not very interesting, I contacted the seller and asked whether I could have the ASUS board only. He replied that it was already sold some time ago for 220€. And I was just like: What the heck? This is really insane. Why are people doing this? Spending such ridiculous amounts of money for this board? I just don't get it.
Just wanted to leave this here.

I remember this listing from some months ago. It seems multiple people had inquired about the board so he listed it seperately for 180€ (and didn't remove it from the picture of the lot of course! 🤬). I didn't think he'd get that price but from what you say it seems people even started outbidding each other.
Wtf? Is this all because of PCL's obsession with SS7 and K6-III+ CPUs for "4-in-1 Dos/Win9x gaming PCs"?
The platform isn't even that good. Sure you have a quadrillion options for CPU speeds but you hardly need those. All relevant speeds can be achieved on a Pentium III with slowdown utilities, reducing clockspeeds and disabling caches. Plus late Win9x games are way smoother on a Pentium III and the 440BX chipset is just a beacon of stability compared to Aladdin V or MVP3. The SS7 platform is a compromise. Who pays 200€+ for a motherboard just to build the ultimate compromise machine?
The individual listing for the board described it as untested as well btw. Somebody bought an untested 22 year old motherboard for 220€ because he/she fell for youtube hype.

Reply 588 of 934, by RaverX

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Collectors are to blame for this (I am also a collector, so...). A while ago I spotted a Rage Fury MAXX listed for a decent price. I contacted the seller, I told him that I want the card. He said that another one contacted him before and he will send the card to him. I said ok, but if the other one changes his mind I will offer a bit more. After 2 days he relisted the card at a much higher price. So, yes, this things happens 🙁

Reply 589 of 934, by devius

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220€ for a Aladdin V motherboard is just insane. It didn't even cost half of that when new 😁 I wonder if it's true. I find it very hard to believe.

Not to mention for that money you could buy a few separate complete PCs.

Reply 590 of 934, by imi

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Doornkaat wrote on 2020-08-25, 09:50:

I remember this listing from some months ago. It seems multiple people had inquired about the board so he listed it seperately for 180€ (and didn't remove it from the picture of the lot of course! 🤬).

that's why I always declare interest in the entire lot usually instead of just asking for single items... and then receive a lot without all the cards I wanted in the first place, because the seller had already sold them and didn't remove them from the pictures... true story sadly.

Reply 592 of 934, by imi

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some people aren't collectors like some of us and just go for one specific item that they want... guess they can justify paying more for that one thing easily then... and well there's also people who just don't have to care about money that much and if they want something they just get it.

Reply 593 of 934, by Miphee

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imi wrote on 2020-08-25, 11:53:

some people aren't collectors like some of us and just go for one specific item that they want...

Makes sense, but it's still brutal for a single board that was untested.

Reply 594 of 934, by Miphee

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Packaging for the Nixdorf PCs: crumpled newspaper on top and an Ariel box on 2 sides (not on the plastic bezel front of course). How they survived shipping is beyond me.
I told the seller in advance to pack it properly, I mentioned bubble wrap, styrofoam and PE. No, crumpled newspapers and thin cardboard in a small cardboard box.
Damn.

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Reply 595 of 934, by gex85

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Doornkaat wrote on 2020-08-25, 09:50:
I remember this listing from some months ago. It seems multiple people had inquired about the board so he listed it seperately f […]
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gex85 wrote on 2020-08-25, 06:36:

So yesterday I was browsing the German eBay Classifieds site and came across an ad with several old motherboards, power supplies, PCI cards, etc. It was all in "untested" condition and the asking price was just below 60€ for the whole lot.
One of the boards immediately caught my eye: An ASUS P5A. Since the other parts were not very interesting, I contacted the seller and asked whether I could have the ASUS board only. He replied that it was already sold some time ago for 220€. And I was just like: What the heck? This is really insane. Why are people doing this? Spending such ridiculous amounts of money for this board? I just don't get it.
Just wanted to leave this here.

I remember this listing from some months ago. It seems multiple people had inquired about the board so he listed it seperately for 180€ (and didn't remove it from the picture of the lot of course! 🤬). I didn't think he'd get that price but from what you say it seems people even started outbidding each other.
Wtf? Is this all because of PCL's obsession with SS7 and K6-III+ CPUs for "4-in-1 Dos/Win9x gaming PCs"?
The platform isn't even that good. Sure you have a quadrillion options for CPU speeds but you hardly need those. All relevant speeds can be achieved on a Pentium III with slowdown utilities, reducing clockspeeds and disabling caches. Plus late Win9x games are way smoother on a Pentium III and the 440BX chipset is just a beacon of stability compared to Aladdin V or MVP3. The SS7 platform is a compromise. Who pays 200€+ for a motherboard just to build the ultimate compromise machine?
The individual listing for the board described it as untested as well btw. Somebody bought an untested 22 year old motherboard for 220€ because he/she fell for youtube hype.

Yeah that's probably the same ad. I exchanged a few messages with him and it turned out that indeed someone had inquired about this board just like you said, then he did some research because hey, why would someone ask for this specific board? He probably found some eBay listings with already insane asking prices and then sold it to the highest bidder. Crazy.
Also, I agree that while SS7 is an interesting platform, it's certainly not the holy grail of retro computing. I have three SS7 boards myself, one MVP3 and two Aladdin V - nice boards for sure, but not that special, at least to me.

However, good to know that most people here agree that it's completely overpriced.

My retro computers

Reply 596 of 934, by imi

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well, most of my SS7 boards came from scrap lots or cheap mystery PCs ^^

I bought one as tested and working last year some time for around €30 including CPU and RAM, and I thought I "overpaid" for that back then even... but eh it was in it's original box, so there's that.

Last edited by imi on 2020-08-25, 13:21. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 597 of 934, by Doornkaat

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imi wrote on 2020-08-25, 11:35:

that's why I always declare interest in the entire lot usually instead of just asking for single items... and then receive a lot without all the cards I wanted in the first place, because the seller had already sold them and didn't remove them from the pictures... true story sadly.

#metoo : Once before when trying to buy my first Voodoo 3 3000 AGP back in 2014. I specifically ask wether all items are still avaliable ever since. V3s weren't all that expensive back then and I bought the lot for 25€ shipped so it was merely an annoyance but the guy never even apologised when confronted.

Miphee wrote on 2020-08-25, 11:48:

Do people really spend that much on a single item? I feel so poor, that's my budget for 4 months on retro hardware.

It'S aN iNvEsTmEnT!
😉

Reply 598 of 934, by Oetker

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I guess that's kind of the mixed blessing of retro PC Youtube videos, it's not that I feel the hobby should be Secret Knowledge only for insiders, but those videos do fuel preconceptions that a certain part is the very best and that people Need a voodoo card even though now in 2020 they're only useful for a few specific games.

Reply 599 of 934, by TheMobRules

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Wow, seems like the Amiga craze has reached yet another level of madness. I was browsing eBay and stumbled upon a listing for an empty Amiga 2000 box at $1000 + shipping!

A cardboard box.
An empty cardboard box.
An empty cardboard box with stains and marks that doesn't even look remotely new.
...

The seller claims that it's a unique collector's item and the auction has a bunch of watchers... is this sh*t for real or just a money laundering scheme? I honestly cannot tell, are there people really paying those numbers for empty boxes?