I think I only paid $20 for my Banshee, but that was 4 years ago. It is entertaining to see how much people are paying for useless technology. I haven't bought anything of significant value for some time now. Now I buy things that I have interest in but also think people will pay silly amounts for in 5 years. Paying large sums for this 90's hardware is against my principals and I think only harms the hobby. Earlier this year I paid $97 for a PR440FX w/VRM w/IO shield and felt that was a bit much but acceptable in this market. It is probably one of the top three, if not the best, dual PPRO board made. I bet they sell for $400 in just a few from now months.

Lol, I paid $50 AU for an ET6000 2meg yesterday.

Madness setting in ... probably.

canthearu wrote on 2021-09-20, 04:05:

Lol, I paid $50 AU for an ET6000 2meg yesterday.

Madness setting in ... probably.

I paid alot more for a ET6100 , I don't want to really admit how much I paid for it , it was alot and the card isn't really any better than a regular ET6000 but my impulse buying got the better of me.
So I'm probably part of the problem xD. (Also to be fair half the reason the card cost so much was the shipping).

50 AUD for the 6000 you got seems like a rational deal by comparison.

But yeah seems like prices are skyrocketing , I get rare stuff costing alot , but what really boggles my mind is the price of things like the sound blaster 16 model CT2230s and the like ,
it looks to me like people have been lurking on vogons and inflating prices based on what is considered the "best" hardware or something. *tinfoil hat off*

AppleSauce wrote on 2021-09-20, 06:18:

I paid alot more for a ET6100 , I don't want to really admit how much I paid for it , it was alot and the card isn't really any […]
Show full quote

canthearu wrote on 2021-09-20, 04:05:

Lol, I paid $50 AU for an ET6000 2meg yesterday.

Madness setting in ... probably.

I paid alot more for a ET6100 , I don't want to really admit how much I paid for it , it was alot and the card isn't really any better than a regular ET6000 but my impulse buying got the better of me.
So I'm probably part of the problem xD. (Also to be fair half the reason the card cost so much was the shipping).

50 AUD for the 6000 you got seems like a rational deal by comparison.

But yeah seems like prices are skyrocketing , I get rare stuff costing alot , but what really boggles my mind is the price of things like the sound blaster 16 model CT2230s and the like ,
it looks to me like people have been lurking on vogons and inflating prices based on what is considered the "best" hardware or something. *tinfoil hat off*

one 'trick' is to avoid things that are top of the line or considered the best - but then it wouldn't qualify as popular or rare!

When it comes to addiction and impulse control, hold your ground and "Just Say No!" The consequence of giving in drives prices higher, not just for that particular item, but all around. It seems to be spiralling out of control now (but fun to watch!). For those who are in it for profit, they have it good, but for those who are in the hobby to tinker around, the hardware has become too expensive and kills this the sport of exploration, thus and turns it into a sport of collection and greed. I suppose it can still be a sport of exploration, but for mostly for those more well off.

All of this has got me wondering recently if I should create a database of whom to donate which items to upon death. After some time on the forum, you get a sense of who might appreciate what the most. Another idea is to try and sell it all in my/our dying years, but I don't think I could live with myself to advertise, for example, a CPU on eBay for $1000. Another approach is to sell them at auction only on eBay, which would at least alleviate the seller's guilt for the amount an item sells for, but does nothing to curb the rapid inflation. But then if I/we die suddenly, it would surely be easier for the surviving family members to give the lot away to people on their donation list. Have you all given this much thought?

feipoa wrote on 2021-09-20, 06:52:

For those who are in it for profit, they have it good, but for those who are in the hobby to tinker around, the hardware has become too expensive and kills this the sport of exploration, thus and turns it into a sport of collection and greed. I suppose it can still be a sport of exploration, but for mostly for those more well off.

This will definitely kill the exploration part if only because people will be less inclined to take calculated risks trying out new stuff if the parts they are testing with have become more expensive and more difficult to replace.

I have actually thought about my stuff and it will probably end up with some of my friends if I were to ever pass untimely. Tbh I haven't given it that much thought. I've considered slowly selling of parts of my collection for years but I haven't come to any sort of consensus yet as to where and how.
Perhaps some day 😀

And one of the issues I've seen mentioned here as well is how to explain to whatever kind of governmental tax thingy that it's not just a gold mine that is easy to sell. It's very much a niche market which will involve a lot of hours (and also money) to have to invest in order to get something out of it again. Or cheap out and sell everything at a great loss which I am not gonna do of course.
I was never in it for the money.

I don't think i have anything valuable, no rare sound cards or voodoo things - just the middle of road type stuff. Still, it would be a shame to just throw it all away, but enthusiasts don't often want yet another budget pc of era x with a geforce fx 5200 and the like!

I dunno, 5 years ago you had a $10 PC, now it's $50 to $100 maybe, 5x00 series are getting known for backwards compatibility. I am currently resisting the temptation to fill the very few remaining nooks and crannies in my house with $10 C2D systems 🤣

Love to know where you can get a good Core 2 system for only $10... As in, not OEM and not crappy components.

The higher end boards are kinda pricey.

I've been looking for a good P45 based board with DDR3 support and a Gigabyte EP45T-UD3P popped up for sale and I bought it... For only $89.99.

And this is a good price for this board as boards of similar caliber can go for $120+.

There were a few Gigabyte boards for a bit less but those models didn't come with any coming whatsoever on the mosfets which baffles me.

It's like panning for gold in the local classifieds, you start with a huge handful of dirt, and pan and pan, and eventually there is gold, but you gotta stick your hands in the dirt first, it won't just jump in your lap. If you want gold without the work, you go and pay thousands of dollars an ounce.

You must have much better local sales where you are then. Around here stuff like Craigslist is full of people wanting crazy prices for old stuff.. and not even desirable old stuff.

Same goes for every other local sales platform.

And the last recycling center that would sell stuff to the public shut down at least 5 years ago.

I do find stuff that people set out to the curb every once in a while though and I set stuff that isn't worth it to me to sell out to the curb as well.

I've been trying to find one of those boards for a few years now and this is the first time I have seen one pop up for a not so insane price. The P45 boards that supported DDR3 were right at the end of the LGA775 platform so they weren't that common back when they were new, much less now.

eBay has pretty much dried up as far as great deals though I do get stuff that pops up like that every once in a while.

There was also a place I found in a different part of the USA that sold used parts via their own web store and I bought all of their ISA sound cards over a period of about a year or so.

People too often forget that they are mortal and that death can come at any moment. Best to have a solution in place so your last living thoughts aren't, "oh crap, what about my collection!"

Another idea I had for the sale of our junk is to let the buyers pay top dollar, but then donate all the proceeds, less cost, to charity. This largely avoids our own cultivation of greed. It also, I hope, nullifies the issue of taxation.

This sale is interesting:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/174937015782
It is just an ordinary Voodoo3 box (no graphics card), and a damaged one at that; the UPC symbol is missing. It sells for $137.50 plus $18 shipping. There were 9 bids with 6 bidders. Madness.

I have a Voodoo3 3000 PCI that came in a box like this. I don't like storing boxes and nearly threw it away. I decided to keep it, but everytime I see that empty box I contemplate throwing it away. Not any longer!

I’m going through a purge phase currently and the higher prices people will pay means that the it’s actually worthwhile to sell 5.25 drives, etc. Selling stuff takes effort and I’m not going to bother for 10 bucks per item.

So higher prices isn’t all bad - it gets hardware back out into circulation that would otherwise just sit in storage or go into ewaste.

Regarding the general discussion: I accept that a lot of people don't have the financial luxury to sell [any type of] items at less than their market price. If it were an ideal world we'd all be giving each other everything for free because we don't need the money, but many small sellers (i.e. ordinary people) cannot entertain that option and must ask for whatever they can get, "because life".

However it's still expected that natural laws of supply and demand will rule overall. If something is scarce then it can't be wished otherwise, and if something is not scarce, then one seller alone cannot force an exaggerated price.

I also accept that, had I kept all the old computer stuff I'd ever owned rather than foolishly discarding lots of it, then I would probably never have a need to buy high priced retro gear again. So my own actions are both: a microcosm of the wider world, where most of the retro computers were thoughtlessly discarded and thus the remaining few are spread thin; and a direct karmic reflection of the situation we now face.

I kept a load of stuff over the years because I thought it was underappreciated and it was a waste for it to go to landfill, so in some respects I'm happy to see high $$$ value as an appreciation score. I bet a lot of guys though are just selling the one thing at inflated price and buying something different at inflated price with the proceeds.

AppleSauce wrote on 2021-09-20, 06:18:

I paid alot more for a ET6100 , I don't want to really admit how much I paid for it , it was alot and the card isn't really any […]
Show full quote

canthearu wrote on 2021-09-20, 04:05:

Lol, I paid $50 AU for an ET6000 2meg yesterday.

Madness setting in ... probably.

I paid alot more for a ET6100 , I don't want to really admit how much I paid for it , it was alot and the card isn't really any better than a regular ET6000 but my impulse buying got the better of me.
So I'm probably part of the problem xD. (Also to be fair half the reason the card cost so much was the shipping).

50 AUD for the 6000 you got seems like a rational deal by comparison.

But yeah seems like prices are skyrocketing , I get rare stuff costing alot , but what really boggles my mind is the price of things like the sound blaster 16 model CT2230s and the like ,
it looks to me like people have been lurking on vogons and inflating prices based on what is considered the "best" hardware or something. *tinfoil hat off*

The 6100 was not that common and the only real advantage was the higher refresh rates because of the better RAMDAC which means nothing if you use a LCD monitor these days.

Back when most obsolete cards were cheap I snagged a ET6o00 with full RAM, should have snagged a few more. People love Tseng cards for ISA/VLB but for PCI these are tons of cheaper easier to find 2D cards so few collect Tseng chipped cards.

An Asus CT-479 went for 426$ 18 Sept 2021 on eBay...

Unknown_K wrote on 2021-09-21, 03:41:

AppleSauce wrote on 2021-09-20, 06:18:

I paid alot more for a ET6100 , I don't want to really admit how much I paid for it , it was alot and the card isn't really any […]
Show full quote

canthearu wrote on 2021-09-20, 04:05:

Lol, I paid $50 AU for an ET6000 2meg yesterday.

Madness setting in ... probably.

I paid alot more for a ET6100 , I don't want to really admit how much I paid for it , it was alot and the card isn't really any better than a regular ET6000 but my impulse buying got the better of me.
So I'm probably part of the problem xD. (Also to be fair half the reason the card cost so much was the shipping).

50 AUD for the 6000 you got seems like a rational deal by comparison.

But yeah seems like prices are skyrocketing , I get rare stuff costing alot , but what really boggles my mind is the price of things like the sound blaster 16 model CT2230s and the like ,
it looks to me like people have been lurking on vogons and inflating prices based on what is considered the "best" hardware or something. *tinfoil hat off*

The 6100 was not that common and the only real advantage was the higher refresh rates because of the better RAMDAC which means nothing if you use a LCD monitor these days.

Back when most obsolete cards were cheap I snagged a ET6o00 with full RAM, should have snagged a few more. People love Tseng cards for ISA/VLB but for PCI these are tons of cheaper easier to find 2D cards so few collect Tseng chipped cards.

It being somewhat rare probably had to do with the fact Tseng folded and decided to sell their hardware division to ATI
so the 6100 didn't really stay around long enough to build up a big supply.

https://www.eetimes.com/tseng-labs-ships-new- … -of-its-et6000/
https://www.cnet.com/news/ati-technologies-buys-tseng-labs/

June 17, 1997
Tseng Labs Inc. (Newtown, Pa.) announced the availability of the ET6100, an enhanced version of its 128-bit ET6000 2-D Graphics and Multimedia Engine

Dec. 16, 1997
ATI Technologies today announced that it has acquired virtually all of the graphic design assets of struggling video graphics company Tseng Labs (TSNG) in a $3 million deal.

Apparently Tseng were going to release their first 3D chipset , the ET6300 before they went under, I wonder if any of those are out in the wild.
There are rumors from back then that Radeon cards might have some of the et6300 tech in them.

But yeah just a fascinating card history wise , which is part of the reason I wanted one.

Joakim wrote on 2021-09-21, 04:40:

An Asus CT-479 went for 426$ 18 Sept 2021 on eBay...

In other words, a Pentium M 2.13 MHz CPU (Dothan) with Asus upgrade PCB board for a socket 478 (usually Pentium 4). I had no idea these existed. Wouldn't a P4 Prescott be a faster upgrade?

Maybe so, I have one of those adapters in a stupidly over the top late windows 98 build. I like the Pentium m processors because they are efficient and the fact that they can downclock without mods I'm just surprised someone would pay that much for it tbh...