yes but there are always cheaper and better alternatives that often get the same result or even better

its really hard to justify even my actual k6-2 with voodoo 3 2000. I got the parts for free over a span of 15 years just because i repair computers. If that wasnt the case im sure would have end up building a Pentium 2/3

Living wrote on 2022-01-25, 11:22:

yes but there are always cheaper and better alternatives that often get the same result or even better

its really hard to justify even my actual k6-2 with voodoo 3 2000. I got the parts for free over a span of 15 years just because i repair computers. If that wasnt the case im sure would have end up building a Pentium 2/3

Right now its only specific parts that command stupid prices like K6-3+ 550ACR CPUs currently selling for 440GBP, AWE CT3900, 3980, 2760 selling for 400 USD, Voodoo5 5500;s selling for anything between 600 to 1100 AUD but if you dont mind grabbing alternatives you can get really good prices like 3xK62+ 570 CPUs for 70 USD or the Voodoo 4 4500 I got for 150 AUD. Deals are still there, sure they are not as great as in the past but comparing prices between "Wanted" retro gear and "Not Wanted so much" gear Im sticking to the alternative stuff that people seem to skip over.

440GBp for a fucking socket 7 CPU .. GTFO not sure why this in particular pisses me off.

Living wrote on 2022-01-25, 11:22:

yes but there are always cheaper and better alternatives that often get the same result or even better

its really hard to justify even my actual k6-2 with voodoo 3 2000. I got the parts for free over a span of 15 years just because i repair computers. If that wasnt the case im sure would have end up building a Pentium 2/3

It depends where you live... I can buy AWE32s for ~20 USD pretty easly in Poland, while people are already paying over 100USD elsewhere...
Depends on two most important things basically:

- In the 90s PC in Poland was a symbol of social status. People started to earn more money and parts became cheaper but still were pretty expensive. That's why if your parents for example could afford a PC it's very likely it's still sitting somewhere in their basement/attic - they just remember how much it they spent on it and they don't want just to give it away to the recycler. When I buy such machines from people garages/attics the first thing they tell when I ask about the machine's history is how much it costed ;D

- Alot of electronic trash is moved from rich countries where it's thrown away or just moved as illegal thrash - ie. most of my collection came from PCs which were brought from Germany so you can buy them relatively easly here, although prices gone higher recently. I'm pretty sure it's like this in other similar countries as well.

HanJammer wrote on 2022-01-25, 11:49:

It depends where you live... I can buy AWE32s for ~20 USD pretty easly in Poland, while people are already paying over 100USD el […]
Show full quote

Living wrote on 2022-01-25, 11:22:

yes but there are always cheaper and better alternatives that often get the same result or even better

its really hard to justify even my actual k6-2 with voodoo 3 2000. I got the parts for free over a span of 15 years just because i repair computers. If that wasnt the case im sure would have end up building a Pentium 2/3

It depends where you live... I can buy AWE32s for ~20 USD pretty easly in Poland, while people are already paying over 100USD elsewhere...
Depends on two most important things basically:

- In the 90s PC in Poland was a symbol of social status. People started to earn more money and parts became cheaper but still were pretty expensive. That's why if your parents for example could afford a PC it's very likely it's still sitting somewhere in their basement/attic - they just remember how much it they spent on it and they don't want just to give it away to the recycler. When I buy such machines from people garages/attics the first thing they tell when I ask about the machine's history is how much it costed ;D

- Alot of electronic trash is moved from rich countries where it's thrown away or just moved as illegal thrash - ie. most of my collection came from PCs which were brought from Germany so you can buy them relatively easly here, although prices gone higher recently. I'm pretty sure it's like this in other similar countries as well.

I buy a lot of parts from Poland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Kazakhstan before all the trouble and they all seem to have a ton of the older parts especially Russia, I used to avoid buying from there but have found them to go above and beyond in making sure the part gets to me in great condition and quickly too. Parts from these places used to be pretty cheap but like most things they have risen in price but they are still reasonable all things considered and I dont mind buying parts from sellers who are not trying to gouge me.

Here you could get some common parts for cheap. But for anything else you had to buy from abroad. It also depends when did you start this hobby. Looking back I might be lucky but I also missed a lot of deals as I thought it was too expensive or I just didn't care about some computer era at the time. I can also understand sellers not selling something tested for cheap. It takes time to test it and selling for 10€ is not viable. I also begun to value my time more. If I want something I will buy it and take care of the money later (if needed).

Guys, I have a possible deal on a Sony CPD-E400 19" CRT Monitor for 20$, the seller says that the monitor is working propertly.

Some photos:

Considering the current prices of CRT's, do you think it's a good deal?

I used to have this exact model back in 2000. After a few years it developed too bright image even on 0% brightness it was too bright. I eventually sold it off in 2006. So check this out.

Otherwise the price is good. I paid for my last CRT Sony G520 around 100eur locally.

kixs wrote on 2022-01-25, 13:08:

I used to have this exact model back in 2000. After a few years it developed too bright image even on 0% brightness it was too bright. I eventually sold it off in 2006. So check this out.

Otherwise the price is good. I paid for my last CRT Sony G520 around 100eur locally.

Exactly this you may need to use a program called WINDAS and/or replace some capacitors to get brightness to be correct.

Also check the screen for scratches to the anti glare surface.. but at that price you can't complain

Otherwise, a decent Trinitron and a good deal I'd say.
Just be aware it may be a bit 'sharp' for some low resolution dos games, comes down to personal taste

Maybe not really retro, yet. But it is a Core2Duo system inside a BTX case (dying breed) - and I like that Cylon like look.

Living wrote on 2022-01-25, 11:04:

i get the concept of thinkering with parts but i just stick with 2 pcs: my main rig (5600x), the retro pc (k6-2 500) and a box with spare parts wich are dirt cheap even today like slot 1 and socket 370 .

i dont get how ppl even in here pay above 100USD for any part, its just insane to me

I agree for the most part. However, there are certain parts that hardly, if ever, pop up for sale. Some of those parts I have been looking for for a few years. If they pop up for a reasonable price, I am generally going to try to purchase them.

Are there any smokers here? I wonder how many packs of cigarettes you purchased in the last 20 years. Probably $30,000 worth. We'll round down to $20,000 if you didn't smoke a pack a day @ $4/pack. Spending $400 on an AWE32 looks like a rather good deal to me from this perspective. Of course, this same asinine argument could be made for anything, but I threw it out there, and I'm glad for the AWE32 at the price I paid; whether anyone else thinks it's insane or not (which I don't take personally, of course).

On that note, I haven't bought a Starbucks since 1972, I should be a billionaire according to the financial blogs 🤣

edit: it's those "anyone can be wealthy in a few short years" type articles I'm mocking, but only specifically if you're the anyone who has 100k+ income but somehow manage to blow 80k of it on non-essentials, or maybe grandma bought you a house, so you can live in moms basement and rent it and other stupidity...

pampilhoso wrote on 2022-01-25, 12:58:

Guys, I have a possible deal on a Sony CPD-E400 19" CRT Monitor for 20$, the seller says that the monitor is working propertly. […]
Show full quote

Guys, I have a possible deal on a Sony CPD-E400 19" CRT Monitor for 20$, the seller says that the monitor is working propertly.

Some photos:
1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg

Considering the current prices of CRT's, do you think it's a good deal?

Ya , I'd grab that in a second. I was lucky that some older gentleman was giving away a free 21 inch Packard Bell CRT monitor. I was the first to go get it and I absolutely love it. I dont expect to find too much cool free stuff, so at 20 bucks that 19 inch is a steal . Go get it.

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-01-25, 14:19:

Living wrote on 2022-01-25, 11:04:

i get the concept of thinkering with parts but i just stick with 2 pcs: my main rig (5600x), the retro pc (k6-2 500) and a box with spare parts wich are dirt cheap even today like slot 1 and socket 370 .

i dont get how ppl even in here pay above 100USD for any part, its just insane to me

I agree for the most part. However, there are certain parts that hardly, if ever, pop up for sale. Some of those parts I have been looking for for a few years. If they pop up for a reasonable price, I am generally going to try to purchase them.

Exactly.

I managed to find a 129 megabyte HDD on ebay for just over 20 bucks for my IBM PS/1 a few pages back.
I put in a 120 GB HDD and it read it as a 500 and something meg drive. WHile 500 megs is better than 129, I was it as authentic as possible. So I will wait until the 129 meg drive comes and install that one. I didnt realize this computer came with disney sound source. I have never heard of it before lately and want to hunt one down. Might be very tough to find.

Its been a fun project so far and i cant wait to see the end result but I also have a couple other projects going on as well.

Law212 wrote on 2022-01-25, 16:07:

I managed to find a 129 megabyte HDD on ebay for just over 20 bucks for my IBM PS/1 a few pages back.
I put in a 120 GB HDD and it read it as a 500 and something meg drive. WHile 500 megs is better than 129, I was it as authentic as possible. So I will wait until the 129 meg drive comes and install that one. I didnt realize this computer came with disney sound source. I have never heard of it before lately and want to hunt one down. Might be very tough to find.

Its been a fun project so far and i cant wait to see the end result but I also have a couple other projects going on as well.

Just make sure you run a bad block test on it before you use it, I personally dont trust old IDE HDDs off eBay even if the seller is adamant that its good with no bad blocks, drives below 10gb are even more suspect and get a lot more scrutiny from me if I receive any. I have a nice HDD testing suite I put eBay IDE drives through before they see the inside of any of my builds, if they pass the gradual torture test then they get used, any failures and they either get binned or recycled for their neo magnets. Drives with bad blocks get put into my test parts bin till they decide to die with the click of death or bad block cancer.

Having seen many a old HDD arrive in good condition only for it to ghost me a few months later I for one am glad for compact flash and its availability in small sizes.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-25, 16:14:

Law212 wrote on 2022-01-25, 16:07:

I managed to find a 129 megabyte HDD on ebay for just over 20 bucks for my IBM PS/1 a few pages back.
I put in a 120 GB HDD and it read it as a 500 and something meg drive. WHile 500 megs is better than 129, I was it as authentic as possible. So I will wait until the 129 meg drive comes and install that one. I didnt realize this computer came with disney sound source. I have never heard of it before lately and want to hunt one down. Might be very tough to find.

Its been a fun project so far and i cant wait to see the end result but I also have a couple other projects going on as well.

Just make sure you run a bad block test on it before you use it, I personally dont trust old IDE HDDs off eBay even if the seller is adamant that its good with no bad blocks, drives below 10gb are even more suspect and get a lot more scrutiny from me if I receive any. I have a nice HDD testing suite I put eBay IDE drives through before they see the inside of any of my builds, if they pass the gradual torture test then they get used, any failures and they either get binned or recycled for their neo magnets. Drives with bad blocks get put into my test parts bin till they decide to die with the click of death or bad block cancer.

Having seen many a old HDD arrive in good condition only for it to ghost me a few months later I for one am glad for compact flash and its availability in small sizes.

Im not too worried. If it conks out , ill just put in the drive I have in it now.
I want to add a compact flash to my Pentium 1 since the old 2 gig HDD died and I lost a lot of retro game progress. I just have to learn how to do it as I have no clue at the moment.

Im having a hard time with my P1 at the moment. I have a 1 gig drive in it but its not enough space. The old 2 gig HDD was decent until it died. The pentium wont even see any of my other drives for some reason which im trying to figure out. its funny that an old 486 will accept a 120 gig HDD but my pentium wont see any over 2 gigs.

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-25, 14:53:

Are there any smokers here? I wonder how many packs of cigarettes you purchased in the last 20 years. Probably $30,000 worth. We'll round down to $20,000 if you didn't smoke a pack a day @ $4/pack. Spending $400 on an AWE32 looks like a rather good deal to me from this perspective. Of course, this same asinine argument could be made for anything, but I threw it out there, and I'm glad for the AWE32 at the price I paid; whether anyone else thinks it's insane or not (which I don't take personally, of course).

Let's hope the hypothetical smoker didn't smoke all those cigarettes near the hardware you buy. A light whiff of smoke is easily cleaned off, but deeply tar-stained parts look, smell and feel filthy, and it's incredibly difficult to get rid of completely.

Personally I wouldn't pay USD 400 for an AWE32, but I don't hugely like the cards (and indeed have sold a few for quite a bit less than that) so they're not worth it for me. If they are to you, and you can spare the cash, by all means go for it. I'm sure there's stuff I blow money on others wouldn't choose to. It's the nice thing about having any amount of money: being able to choose what to spend it on.

Speaking of which (although for a far more modest amount):

Love those InWin cases 😀

dionb wrote on 2022-01-25, 17:09:

Let's hope the hypothetical smoker didn't smoke all those cigarettes near the hardware you buy. A light whiff of smoke is easily […]
Show full quote

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-25, 14:53:

Are there any smokers here? I wonder how many packs of cigarettes you purchased in the last 20 years. Probably $30,000 worth. We'll round down to $20,000 if you didn't smoke a pack a day @ $4/pack. Spending $400 on an AWE32 looks like a rather good deal to me from this perspective. Of course, this same asinine argument could be made for anything, but I threw it out there, and I'm glad for the AWE32 at the price I paid; whether anyone else thinks it's insane or not (which I don't take personally, of course).

Let's hope the hypothetical smoker didn't smoke all those cigarettes near the hardware you buy. A light whiff of smoke is easily cleaned off, but deeply tar-stained parts look, smell and feel filthy, and it's incredibly difficult to get rid of completely.

Personally I wouldn't pay USD 400 for an AWE32, but I don't hugely like the cards (and indeed have sold a few for quite a bit less than that) so they're not worth it for me. If they are to you, and you can spare the cash, by all means go for it. I'm sure there's stuff I blow money on others wouldn't choose to. It's the nice thing about having any amount of money: being able to choose what to spend it on.

Speaking of which (although for a far more modest amount):

659256.jpg

Love those InWin cases 😀

Very nice case!

I have a Voodoo Rush which can probably be smoked itself, it's so pungent of smoke.

As for the AWE32, remember, I'm talking about a boxed complete sample. A loose sample I'm less enthused to spend that kind of money. The paper, disks, and accessories along with the hardware make it worth it. For any price I toss out, it's for the complete experience. When/if I buy loose hardware, of course, I am spending far less. But I usually hold off on buying unless it's 100% or near 100% complete.

Just ran across what appears to be a very nice deal on eBay, its a lot buy out auction for 6 sound cards for 60 USD

3x Sound Blaster Live! (CT4780)
2x Sound Blaster Live! (CT4870)
1x Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (SB0400)

Not sure I have a use for that many sound cards but it might be nice to have some spares around for gift builds I do occasionally for friends and family.

For people wondering in eBay still has reasonable seller .. yes it does but you have to dig through all the scalpers.