ah yes, we used to be subscribed to Computer!Totaal back in the day, and I remember Planhold advertising in every monthly issue of that magazine with a lavish full-page ad. They really gave off a "premium PC clone builder" vibe.

I don't collect 3DFX stuff, but I heard that this might be the best performing 2D PCI card for my 486 so couldn't resist.

It is now the most modern graphics card in my collection

Jed118 wrote on 2022-02-14, 19:43:

Good read, thank you - although I was able to find one glaring mistake in the article:
Both 386SX and 486SX computers require pairs of boards for memory expansion because their system data buses are 16 bits wide.

That and I'd have to make my own PCBs. I think I have dealt with home made 256k SIMMS in the past, the end result was rather home-made-ish.

I missed that, he maybe only had dealt with the 486SLC etc 486 upgrade chips on 386SX boards/chipsets, so just used the 2 rather than 4x30 pin of "real" 486SX on socket 1, 2, 3, 6 motherboards with 30 pin.

brostenen wrote on 2022-02-14, 22:12:

Pre-ordered a new Amiga1200 case in grey colour. It is one of them that are produced on new molds. Will be shipped last half of march 2022. (I can wait)

Now that I have a recapped 1200, with IndivisionAGA-MK3, Tsunami-1230 and an angled CF/IDE adaptor. Then the machine need a new case too. Final step would be a brand new keyboard, but the creator does not reply on email. A bit of a shame, as I would really want a non-clicky mechanical keyboard with new keycaps for my 1200.

If you were going to need to do a lot of typing on it, you could add an external keyboard socket, then use an amiga to PS/2 adapter and plug in whatever PC keyboard suited you. But guess really that would be a stopgap until you found the upgrade you wanted. I quite like the stock keyboard.. in fact I think my choices of PC keyboard are influenced by the several years I spent typing up everything on an A1200.

Received a CH Flightstick Pro into my modest controller collection.

Sometimes, when you only see things in pictures, perception of the item's overall scale can be off. In this case, the Flightstick turns out to be about 1.25x the scale I thought it would be. No issue, it's just quite an imposing block of a thing. 😀 A comparison with a 3D Pro and a Wiimote :

I will give it the full disassemble and sterilise inside and out (the usual with secondhand controllers!) before I try it out properly. Maybe there will be refurbishments or improvements necessary, I don't know. Pots for example. We'll see in due course.

On the underside of the base in marker pen is somebody's name and the date 1/94. Funny to think, here I have somebody's gaming pride and joy of 1994, which perhaps they have long missed.

Oh, and boy am I excited. It's not retro hardware as such, but it's hardware, and it's going to be used in the pursuit of incredibly awesome retro activities. An authentic Parcel Of Greatness +5 has just arrived for me:

I am off to open it now 😁

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-02-14, 23:05:

Funny to think, here I have somebody's gaming pride and joy of 1994, which perhaps they have long missed.

I love my Flightstick Pro. I owned it for a couple of years until an uncle working in IT gifted me my very first ever Thrustmaster FCS Mk1 - which understandably was game-changing. I now own a Flightstick Pro again but that’ll probably be enough for me and WCIII/IV, European Air War, etc - definitely a piece of nostalgia.

mpe wrote on 2022-02-14, 22:21:

I don't collect 3DFX stuff, but I heard that this might be the best performing 2D PCI card for my 486 so couldn't resist. […]
Show full quote

I don't collect 3DFX stuff, but I heard that this might be the best performing 2D PCI card for my 486 so couldn't resist.

It is now the most modern graphics card in my collection

I think the Banshee is actually a very good card. I also happen to really like the Rage 128.

Got a new socket A/370 heatsink and fan, a rather unique one I've never seen before (Cooljag Technology), and it's pretty beefy with a copper base so it should cool very well. For $10 shipped it was too good to pass up.

Also found this Sony SDM-HS95P 19" LCD monitor at the local thrift for $10. It caught my eye because of the unique design and glossy screen which is rare to find on a LCD, so I'm hoping it will be a nice all around retro gaming screen, if only for playing emulators. I read an old review on it and they said the latency is terrible for gaming so we'll see.

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Thats a nice screen, hope it works as good as it looks !

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-02-15, 03:19:

mpe wrote on 2022-02-14, 22:21:

I don't collect 3DFX stuff, but I heard that this might be the best performing 2D PCI card for my 486 so couldn't resist. […]
Show full quote

I don't collect 3DFX stuff, but I heard that this might be the best performing 2D PCI card for my 486 so couldn't resist.

It is now the most modern graphics card in my collection

I think the Banshee is actually a very good card. I also happen to really like the Rage 128.

My monster Fuzion arrived today, this is one lovely looking GPU, now I just need to find the perfect CPU to pair it with.

I think it needs to be an equally good looking setup ...I have the nice looking Dell P3 1.3ghz desktop that I could put it into, perhaps with a MX300 to accompany it.

Took five years of saved search eBay emails...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334327356792

40till5 wrote on 2022-02-15, 07:26:

Took five years of saved search eBay emails...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334327356792

Nice speakers, I want a Altec Lansing set with woofer, not as nice looking as these tho.

Brawndo wrote on 2022-02-15, 05:57:

Got a new socket A/370 heatsink and fan, a rather unique one I've never seen before (Cooljag Technology), and it's pretty beefy with a copper base so it should cool very well. For $10 shipped it was too good to pass up.

Someone sold similar ones from that company for really cheap on ebay for a while. I bought a few and even gave them away with CPUs I sold. Mine have green fans and I was pretty impressed by the quality.

Here's one on a Socket 7 system:

I think I might have an addiction to buying Pentium 3 systems, something about P3s just hits the right way .. HELP

Brawndo wrote on 2022-02-15, 05:57:

Got a new socket A/370 heatsink and fan, a rather unique one I've never seen before (Cooljag Technology), and it's pretty beefy with a copper base so it should cool very well. For $10 shipped it was too good to pass up.

Please, do not consider it advertising (i'm not afiliated in any way with this shop).
I found a really nice deal on old cooling solution here (France).
Brand new in box coolers for Socket 370 / slot1 / Socket A / Socket 478 :
- Socket 478 : 1.90€ - Generic - https://www.pearl.fr/article/JC63/ventilateur-p4-478
- Socket 370/A : Thermaltake Chrom Orb - 2.90€ - https://www.pearl.fr/article/JC69/ventilateur … ltake-chrom-orb
- Slot 1 : 1.90€ - Generic - https://www.pearl.fr/article/JC11/ventilateur-p22a
- Socket A : 2.99€ - Thermaltake ''Volcano 9'' - https://www.pearl.fr/article/CM111/ventilateu … ake-volcano-9-1

I was amazed to find nice looking brand new 20+ years old coolers for that cheap.
I ordered 3 of each.
(If the post violates some rules about promoting things, please, let me know so i edit/delete the post).

acl wrote on 2022-02-15, 09:15:

- Socket 370/A : Thermaltake Chrom Orb - 2.90€ - https://www.pearl.fr/article/JC69/ventilateur … ltake-chrom-orb

I had one of these back in 2000.
Not from Thermaltake as far as I remember, but it looked exactly the same.
Same manufacturer but other label? Dunno.

After a few months the fan broke off. The shop owner blamed me for it, because I didn't clean it regulary. Yeah sure, I'm gonna clean my CPU cooler every week... Is he stupid or what? He replaced it, but after a few months it broke again. He refused to replace it, because 6 months had passed and the warranty was gone.
I never bought anything again from that douchebag. All the stuff he recommended broke after 6 months (including the IBM HDD). Went to another shop and the stuff lasted for years!

Would stay away from this cooler. Better get something were you can replace the fan with modern ones.

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-02-15, 09:29:

Would stay away from this cooler. Better get something were you can replace the fan with modern ones.

Ouch ! I will keep an eye on my Pentium3. I used one of these on my 370 board.
But no issues for now at least. (I hope it will be better since it's not the same brand)

acl wrote on 2022-02-15, 09:55:

Ouch ! I will keep an eye on my Pentium3. I used one of these on my 370 board.
But no issues for now at least. (I hope it will be better since it's not the same brand)

Did some digging online. I'm pretty sure mine was from Titan.
Shape of the fan looks exactly the same. I think they're just relabeled and it's the same thing.
I had two of them break in just 7 months. It didn't even ran 24/7. I only got into file sharing a year later.
For comparison: The Enermax fans in my main rig are now failing after 10 years of 24/7 use. They lasted more than 100x as long! And I did clean them like... Twice?

Then I got this little thingy:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/863/12
Still regret that I gave it to a copper collector a long time ago. 🙁
With a modern fan this would be a really nice cooler.

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-02-15, 10:21:

Did some digging online. I'm pretty sure mine was from Titan. Shape of the fan looks exactly the same. I think they're just rela […]
Show full quote

acl wrote on 2022-02-15, 09:55:

Ouch ! I will keep an eye on my Pentium3. I used one of these on my 370 board.
But no issues for now at least. (I hope it will be better since it's not the same brand)

Did some digging online. I'm pretty sure mine was from Titan.
Shape of the fan looks exactly the same. I think they're just relabeled and it's the same thing.
I had two of them break in just 7 months. It didn't even ran 24/7. I only got into file sharing a year later.
For comparison: The Enermax fans in my main rig are now failing after 10 years of 24/7 use. They lasted more about 100x as long! And I did clean them like... Twice?

Then I got this little thingy:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/863/12
Still regret that I gave it to a copper collector a long time ago. 🙁
With a modern fan this would be a really nice cooler.

Nothing like a good copper cooler with a small Noctua fan on it.

Sadly finding good all copper coolers is difficult these days and if you do you pay through the nose for them.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-02-14, 22:29:

brostenen wrote on 2022-02-14, 22:12:

Pre-ordered a new Amiga1200 case in grey colour. It is one of them that are produced on new molds. Will be shipped last half of march 2022. (I can wait)

Now that I have a recapped 1200, with IndivisionAGA-MK3, Tsunami-1230 and an angled CF/IDE adaptor. Then the machine need a new case too. Final step would be a brand new keyboard, but the creator does not reply on email. A bit of a shame, as I would really want a non-clicky mechanical keyboard with new keycaps for my 1200.

If you were going to need to do a lot of typing on it, you could add an external keyboard socket, then use an amiga to PS/2 adapter and plug in whatever PC keyboard suited you. But guess really that would be a stopgap until you found the upgrade you wanted. I quite like the stock keyboard.. in fact I think my choices of PC keyboard are influenced by the several years I spent typing up everything on an A1200.

I would not be able to use a SUM keyboard adaptor, as the IndivisionAGA-MK3 uses an adaptor that goes over the same chip. That is required to be able to use the hotkey function of the scandoubler, in order to be able to center the image perfectly. Actually a neat feature, that can move the picture up/down/left/right, but also stretch or compress the picture so it fits perfect border to border.

I could be happy with just new a1200net keycaps, but they are so hard to come by. And if I eventually find them, then they will all be second hand and tripple the kickstarter campaign price. Also the keyboard that I mentioned, is extremely well build. It has an extra plate on the bottom, making it even more stiff.