Cyrix AutoMATH-33, which should be the same as a CX-EMC87-33, sold for $203.50 + $5.50 shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/144442964372

The CX-EMC87 was like a Weitek alternative. I've been meaning to test mine out, but haven't got around to it yet.

feipoa wrote on 2022-03-08, 04:26:

The 968 cards are slower in DOS, so perhaps the Trio64 with 2 MB balances out to the 968 with 4 MB in terms of pricing.

Are there people who spend $$$$$ for the absolute fastest Windows for Workgroup video cards?

I know most of the people here are looking for the fastest DOS gaming cards (or gaming hardware in general).

feipoa wrote on 2022-03-09, 09:11:

Cyrix AutoMATH-33, which should be the same as a CX-EMC87-33, sold for $203.50 + $5.50 shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/144442 […]
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Cyrix AutoMATH-33, which should be the same as a CX-EMC87-33, sold for $203.50 + $5.50 shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/144442964372

The CX-EMC87 was like a Weitek alternative. I've been meaning to test mine out, but haven't got around to it yet.

Cyrix_AutoMATH-33_Coprocessor.png

I wonder how many of these CPUs sold today are counterfeits?

Counterfeit - as in a replica design, or using an actual chip and reprinting the surface for a higher speed?

I think it would be pretty difficult to fab up a new batch of these old chips. Even if someone had the design and layout files, wouldn't this be a costly endeavour for very little market demand?

feipoa wrote on 2022-03-10, 18:09:

Counterfeit - as in a replica design, or using an actual chip and reprinting the surface for a higher speed?

I think it would be pretty difficult to fab up a new batch of these old chips. Even if someone had the design and layout files, wouldn't this be a costly endeavour for very little market demand?

You might be surprised just how many of the older 386/486/Pentium CPUs are still fabbed for industrial applications, sure they dont look like they used to and tend to have extra features and support but at their core they are still based on the old tried and tested designs. Being as old as they are the majority of errata has been removed, they are low power/heat and highly reliable and exceptionally well known programming wise, they became the perfect CPUs for industrial tasks in environments that would kill newer CPUs. (Think dirty hot places where cooling will be a very low priority and they may have to run off battery backup for extended periods)

So the demand is there, its just not in the places one would normally see it. (Car fabrication also comes to mind)

A rare 3DFX Voodoo Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi just showed up on Evil Bay ..I have never seen a Quad Voodoo card before and this thing is .. beautiful even comes with the medusa cable which I have also never seen before.

The price is kind of crazy but about twice what Voodoo 5 5500s are selling for.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 08:55:

A rare 3DFX Voodoo Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi just showed up on Evil Bay ..I have never seen a Quad Voodoo card before and this thing is .. beautiful even comes with the medusa cable which I have also never seen before.

The price is kind of crazy but about twice what Voodoo 5 5500s are selling for.

Not quad, but dual (Voodoo2 SLI on single board). 4 x SB200i make a Mercury brick (8 x Voodoo2). There is also an Obsidian x24 which is a consumer version of this board (2 x Voodoo2 SLI on single slot PCI) .

spiroyster wrote on 2022-03-14, 09:33:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 08:55:

A rare 3DFX Voodoo Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi just showed up on Evil Bay ..I have never seen a Quad Voodoo card before and this thing is .. beautiful even comes with the medusa cable which I have also never seen before.

The price is kind of crazy but about twice what Voodoo 5 5500s are selling for.

Not quad, but dual (Voodoo2 SLI on single board). 4 x SB200i make a Mercury brick (8 x Voodoo2). There is also an Obsidian x24 which is a consumer version of this board (2 x Voodoo2 SLI on single slot PCI) .

....They really went nuts with it didn't they.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 08:55:

A rare 3DFX Voodoo Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi just showed up on Evil Bay ..I have never seen a Quad Voodoo card before and this thing is .. beautiful even comes with the medusa cable which I have also never seen before.

The price is kind of crazy but about twice what Voodoo 5 5500s are selling for.

It’s mine now!

The seller seems to have a cache of these cards, perhaps a few spares, or is parting out a Mercury brick. This seller sold a 200sbi with a different serial number a couple of weeks ago.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 09:36:

spiroyster wrote on 2022-03-14, 09:33:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 08:55:

A rare 3DFX Voodoo Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi just showed up on Evil Bay ..I have never seen a Quad Voodoo card before and this thing is .. beautiful even comes with the medusa cable which I have also never seen before.

The price is kind of crazy but about twice what Voodoo 5 5500s are selling for.

Not quad, but dual (Voodoo2 SLI on single board). 4 x SB200i make a Mercury brick (8 x Voodoo2). There is also an Obsidian x24 which is a consumer version of this board (2 x Voodoo2 SLI on single slot PCI) .

....They really went nuts with it didn't they.

Indeed they did. Mercury was all about quality. Used in flight and various other simulation systems apparently. Not any faster than Voodoo2 SLI.

Edit: AAlchemy was the VSA version of Mercury. AA as standard.

Meatball wrote on 2022-03-14, 09:39:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 08:55:

A rare 3DFX Voodoo Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi just showed up on Evil Bay ..I have never seen a Quad Voodoo card before and this thing is .. beautiful even comes with the medusa cable which I have also never seen before.

The price is kind of crazy but about twice what Voodoo 5 5500s are selling for.

It’s mine now!

The seller seems to have a cache of these cards, perhaps a few spares, or is parting out a Mercury brick. This seller sold a 200sbi with a different serial number a couple of weeks ago.

Just like that hey

Lucky Duck, seriously tho it would be fun just to get a chance to toy with one of these cards.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 09:57:

Meatball wrote on 2022-03-14, 09:39:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-14, 08:55:

A rare 3DFX Voodoo Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi just showed up on Evil Bay ..I have never seen a Quad Voodoo card before and this thing is .. beautiful even comes with the medusa cable which I have also never seen before.

The price is kind of crazy but about twice what Voodoo 5 5500s are selling for.

It’s mine now!

The seller seems to have a cache of these cards, perhaps a few spares, or is parting out a Mercury brick. This seller sold a 200sbi with a different serial number a couple of weeks ago.

Just like that hey

Lucky Duck, seriously tho it would be fun just to get a chance to toy with one of these cards.

It was listed before I went to sleep last night, but I wasn't sure if I wanted it or not. I figured if it wasn't sold in 30 seconds, it would probably still be there in the morning. After sleeping on it overnight, I decided what the heck.. it is interesting and it has the medusa cable. The 200SBi is among the last retro equipment I will be buying outside of some kind of failure replacement. I only have a few more parts on my "wish" list.

This is going to go in a period correct business-oriented machine of 1998 running Windows NT 4.0.

If the item sold, could you post a screenshot of the item and its sale price?

Some price trends may have peaked. I am not sure, but have been seeing several small signs in recent weeks. Mirroring sentiments which, after some consideration, also apply to myself and my current relationship with retro.

It's getting more common to hear people talk about retro saturation, e.g. "I have almost everything I need, now". Or even "I need to consolidate down to the good systems I really like".

Asking prices of long term items on my local auction site (prominent things which have high asking prices, and rarely sell - so, their long term price trends are obvious) are dropping, as sellers are deciding they'd rather have Some Money now, rather than sit on unwanted gear long term and achieve a theoretical maximum. Particularly in this unstable global climate.

And for myself, and the few items I'm trying to currently unload for a few weeks, I'm getting a distinct lack of buyer interest. Nice P4 base system (CPU/mobo/RAM) for under $20, and no-one cares. Core2Quad base system for under $40, and no-one cares. [These are not offers! I will not trade via this site, or give links, and very few of you live in my country anyway.]

I just seen an Amiga 3000 sell for $2000.

For every old timer like me who has tons of everything you will find a few people with "I have almost everything I need" and quite a few people who just got into the hobby buying at "inflated prices".

The local craigslist is full of people who buy on ebay and then try to sell it for more locally.

Unknown_K wrote on 2022-03-15, 22:06:

I just seen an Amiga 3000 sell for $2000.

That doesn't surprise me one bit.
They were immensely popular in Germany and to any proud owner of an 1200 or better back then, they must be of great sentimental value today.
They were popular as in "everyone wanted one or envied a friend who had one" - but nowhere near as numerous or affordable as PC clones.
German wiki of the Amiga 3000 says DM 6,000 when bought new. That was two months middle class wages, roughly, or easily € 6,000 today.

Unknown_K wrote on 2022-03-15, 22:06:

For every old timer like me who has tons of everything you will find a few people with "I have almost everything I need" and quite a few people who just got into the hobby buying at "inflated prices".

They might as well have nothing at all yet, they're just not used to getting that stuff for (almost) free or right of the dumpster, etc. And if they want some toy for the mid life crisis, well - they might have some constraints in time, space and WAF, but three figures for a sound card - it's still much less than a Porsche?!?
Can't blame them or the seller - that's not exactly the part of capitalism I'd have any issues with.

Unknown_K wrote on 2022-03-15, 22:06:

The local craigslist is full of people who buy on ebay and then try to sell it for more locally.

Funny, over here, it's probably rather the other way round. People who just want to get rid of - in their eyes - useless junk will sell it for cheap via classifieds. That's how I got my MT-32.
I'm not selling that on ebay, though. 😀

Items at the vanishingly-rare end of the scale always command high prices. Also boxed items, which are explicitly a collector niche. Such niches are their own, special economies.

But regarding the pedestrian "everyday" or mediocre retro gear, personally I'm getting a distinct sense that the frantic "buy all of the (retro) things@!" sentiment has slackened slightly from the manic Covid peaks we saw.

I have seen quite a few people over the years offering very decent money for very specific everyday/mediocre gear because they grew up using it. Considering how all that stuff goes directly to scrap these days there will be some value in any that are left down the road if you like to speculate.

People with money will buy top end retro gear, people who just want to retro game will buy what they can piece together on a budget. Even back in the day when I was buying top end gear in the 90's most gamers were getting by with budget gear which is what 80% of the stuff made and sold was.

I think quite a few people gave up PC gaming and went for consoles (or phones). Down the road when consoles that need servers to operate will be useless junk people will still be retro gaming on old PCs.

Unknown_K wrote on 2022-03-16, 03:10:

I have seen quite a few people over the years offering very decent money for very specific everyday/mediocre gear because they grew up using it. Considering how all that stuff goes directly to scrap these days there will be some value in any that are left down the road if you like to speculate.

People with money will buy top end retro gear, people who just want to retro game will buy what they can piece together on a budget. Even back in the day when I was buying top end gear in the 90's most gamers were getting by with budget gear which is what 80% of the stuff made and sold was.

I think quite a few people gave up PC gaming and went for consoles (or phones). Down the road when consoles that need servers to operate will be useless junk people will still be retro gaming on old PCs.

Also very valid point: The Gold price spikes kill off old hardware.
Afaik, well into the 90s, a simple motherboard could today yield perhaps 10 Euro of precious metal.
Ostensibly it's about an whole gramm (1/31 of an ounce or some 60 $ atm) in a Pentium Pro.
That may be less than the collector's value, but too much to bother testing, marketing, warrantees, the lot.

There are several factors driving demand, supply, and pricing, no doubt. Long term trends, short term phases, price spikes (of various things). My observation was merely of a recent slight flattening of that frantic "Covid FOMO" which, over the previous 1-2 years, had lit a sudden intense fire under all sorts of markets.