The one thing I really like about that intel AN430TX is the lack of electrolytic caps ! 😁
This thing should work forever and ever... maybe.
(not sure how prone to failure the rest is though, but still....)

eBay should not be allowing Russian listings right now, as sanctions on both international transfers and shipping are likely to impair shipping and payment. What is the likely outcome of buying something from the Russian Federation? I suspect the seller likely (1) won't get the money and so won't ship or (2) gets the money somehow but the item doesn't make it out of the country. Belarus could be a similar story depending on where you live, as certain European countries are sanctioning Belarus as well (but not all).

subnet_zero wrote on 2022-03-01, 16:07:

I just got 4 Pentium 233 MMX (SL27S) for 20€. Some bent pins and scratches, but none missing. Now I need a working Socket7 mobo that supports it. Any recommendations?

Just get whatever you can find for cheap.

Gigabyte GA-586ATX3:
Intel TX chipset, ATX form-factor, SD-RAM, UDMA-33, but limited to 66MHz FSB though. And no, clock gen doesn't have any undocumented settings. It is 60 or 66 MHz. No more, no less.
Put in 64MB RAM, an ATI Rage Pro Turbo PCI with 8 Megs (and maybe a Voodoo 1), flash the pimped BIOS for 120GB HDDs and let it run.

Another option: Shuttle HOT-599. Although it is SS7 which could be a bit overkill for a P233MMX it is a nice & compact board. µATX (I like µATX 😉 ), 3x SD-RAM, VGA onboard, Yamaha sound chip onboard, FSB options up to and above 100 MHz. P233MMX @2,5x100. Could be interesting.

Thanks for the recommendations. As for now, I will try to avoid falling into this socket7 rabbit hole. ( I bravely closed all Ebay tabs, but It could be to late already...😬)

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-01, 14:31:

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-01, 13:35:

can't find a lot of information about it except that originally it came with a break-out-box and a special cable.

not a lot? Have you tried Google?

No, in fact I avoid google as much as I can. But that's probably not what you meant 😀
Of course it's easy to find the technical specifcations and also some old reviews. I'm more interested in what the retro-community thinks about this card but there it doesn't show up very often.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-01, 14:31:

I'd assume the one 3.5 mm connector on the backplate is the basic line out, so that should go a long way?

Strangely it's an Aux In. The card was supposed to be not 'only a soundcard' but a media center, so the card it really useless without the box.

mattferris@hotmail.c wrote on 2022-03-01, 23:57:

eBay should not be allowing Russian listings right now, as sanctions on both international transfers and shipping are likely to impair shipping and payment. What is the likely outcome of buying something from the Russian Federation? I suspect the seller likely (1) won't get the money and so won't ship or (2) gets the money somehow but the item doesn't make it out of the country. Belarus could be a similar story depending on where you live, as certain European countries are sanctioning Belarus as well (but not all).

The situation is really becoming stupid with all these "sanctions"

I picked this up this week for £5. Maybe not real hardware but more virtual Hardware

Sealed boxed Roland Virtual SoundCanvas Multi pack VCS-MP1

Bancho wrote on 2022-03-02, 11:54:

I picked this up this week for £5. Maybe not real hardware but more virtual Hardware […]
Show full quote

I picked this up this week for £5. Maybe not real hardware but more virtual Hardware

Sealed boxed Roland Virtual SoundCanvas Multi pack VCS-MP1

I've been using soft synths since the 97 or 98, WinJammer first (great software), and S-YXG20 and S-YXG50 later. For listening to midis and using them with squencers they are great, not so great for gaming, but still it's possible. One of the reasons I never really wanted/needed wavetable sound card like AWE64. Later I bought DS-XG (YMF724) card and I wasn't using soft synths as extensively ever since, but still some of them had better wavetables for XG midi implementation. I believe I still have some variant of Yamaha's wavetable (S-YXG) installed in my modern PC.

Well after a lot of searching and waiting for a Ti4600 and Ti500 at the right price I decided to just go ahead and grab a Inno 3D Ti4200 and ASUS Ti200 for 100 AUD each, made sure they were decent quality cards and grabbed the 64mb ti4200 with the faster memory, should be able to overclock both to get them close to their bigger brothers.

Also found a GF2 Ultra for 150 AUD so that may get added to my collection too, honestly the first GF2 Ultra I have ran across and its a nice Dell version.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-02, 14:44:

Well after a lot of searching and waiting for a Ti4600 and Ti500 at the right price I decided to just go ahead and grab a Inno 3D Ti4200 and ASUS Ti200 for 100 AUD each

People pay ~66 € for a ti4200 down under?
Damn, I need a ship passage to Melbourne, I'm going to be a rich fella!

I think I still have a 3D Prophet III-500 somewhere in Germany (along with some other cards from that area), but looks like you are good for now with GF3 cards.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 14:54:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-02, 14:44:

Well after a lot of searching and waiting for a Ti4600 and Ti500 at the right price I decided to just go ahead and grab a Inno 3D Ti4200 and ASUS Ti200 for 100 AUD each

People pay ~66 € for a ti4200 down under?
Damn, I need a ship passage to Melbourne, I'm going to be a rich fella!

They pay a lot more than that with the absurd exchange rates, and you'll only be rich if you can find someone willing to buy your shit.

That's actually Price + Postage + Import Duties + GST, Ti4200 was 53 USD, postage 30USD Import, GST and exchange costs made up the rest.

I think a lot of people forget all the extra shit that becomes part of the total cost.

schlang wrote on 2022-03-02, 15:03:

I think I still have a 3D Prophet III-500 somewhere in Germany (along with some other cards from that area), but looks like you are good for now with GF3 cards.

I was actually look at that exact card being sold by Electromyne .. for 512 AUD ..yeah no thanks.

hahaha that's 370USD? just ridiculous

speaking of ridiculous, my K6-III actually uses a GF4-4600. I can downgrade that machine to a 4200 without seeing any differences...
(sorry for double post)

schlang wrote on 2022-03-02, 15:10:

speaking of ridiculous, my K6-III actually uses a GF4-4600. I can downgrade that machine to a 4200 without seeing any differences...
(sorry for double post)

These cards will be heading for my 1ghz slot 1 P3 system, its got a nice GF2 GTS in it right now but im curious how it will scale with more GPU power, I think it'll likely have issues using the Ti4200 to its full potential. I do have a P3 1.4s with a SiS 635t DDR board I can put in there and see if the Tually can match the 4200 and if it can well, I have a 9600XT and 9800 XXL I can use to see how far it can go.

Im honestly having fun with these P3 systems, pretty much my sweet spot in retro computing.

I also want to try that K62+ 570 mod to turn it into a 256k cache K63+

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:57:

Of course it's easy to find the technical specifcations and also some old reviews. I'm more interested in what the retro-community thinks about this card but there it doesn't show up very often.

I see. Well, it's not really a gaming card, more the home music and hifi corner, so not that much there.
But well, contemporary reviews will tell you the same, they're just harder to come by for pre-www items.
This one mentions noise issues with the analogue inputs:
https://www.au-ja.de/review-herculesGTX-2.phtml
That sound a bit like "premium shop tries to do affordable mainstream gear" which sometimes ends up being worse than the usual home and gamer stuff.

But feel free to open a thread about it, someone will have some input on it.

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:57:

Strangely it's an Aux In. The card was supposed to be not 'only a soundcard' but a media center, so the card it really useless without the box.

Well, having more connections than a backplate can handle was all the rage back then, see all the Terratec EWS64 or Creative Labs Audigy ultra deluxe with 5 1/4 panels or external boxes back then.
Maby a futile attempt to keep dedicated sound cards alive with casual users, instead of onboard chips. Didn't quite work out.
So, just for fun you sureley could figure out the pin out of that thing and attach some wires to it, but don't expect anything spectacular. Search that crystal chip for its capabilites.

just convert your GF3 Ti-200 into a GF3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvjWv_NpswY 😁

I have very fond memories of my P3 system, especially the mainboard (P3B-F) was one of the best boards I ever had.

schlang wrote on 2022-03-02, 15:22:

just convert your GF3 Ti-200 into a GF3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvjWv_NpswY 😁

I have very fond memories of my P3 system, especially the mainboard (P3B-F) was one of the best boards I ever had.

The board in this system is one of the Slot 1 / 370 boards a Jetway 9BXAN-A, mines the no sound version but there is a sound version on eBay for a very reasonable price so I might upgrade it. (Only seems to support 370 Celerons so not that useful)

Ah Phil to the rescue again, such a great channel and a really cool guy, will have a look into this too since its an ASUS card it might just be ok with such a mod.