mrfusion92 wrote on 2022-12-05, 18:12:

This cutie. It came in a very cheap mixed lot with other bunch of cd/dvd-rom drives, a Logitech Wingman Light and a HP 620LX poc […]
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This cutie. It came in a very cheap mixed lot with other bunch of cd/dvd-rom drives, a Logitech Wingman Light and a HP 620LX pocket PC.

It uses SCSI and it has an IBM sticker. Searching the FRU seems that it was sold with PC Server line of IBM's machines.

Sadly I couldn't find a sort of adapter for a normal height 5.25'' bay (well normal by current standards, since it is already half of the very original height).
I guess I should try cut some bay cover. Or 3D print it.

20221205_185243.jpg
20221205_185300.jpg

These were also used in Sun Sparcstations. I've been looking to pick one up for my Sparcstation 5 but they've been pretty pricy on ebay.

schmatzler wrote on 2022-12-06, 18:50:

I've got the holy trinity for a very good price.
Now all I need is a boxed copy of Windows 95 and I'll be happy.

windows_boxes.jpg

Holy Trinity is 95, 98 and 2000.

Me is the Antichrist.

Looks like that 285 I picked up is going to need a lot of TLC. It worked the first time I booted up XP, using normal VGA driver. After installing the 340.52 drivers, I was just getting black screens. Tried it in a different motherboard and I can't get anything out of it at all. Opened it up and found this.

It's not even close to the worst dust build-up I've seen, but I don't think I've ever seen rust on a component before. Thermal paste is easy enough to replace, but I don't know if I trust those thermal pads. I might have some left over from when I re-padded my PS4 last year. They seem to be 1mm pads, unless anyone knows for certain. I don't know if I want to try to clean it up or just return it.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-12-06, 03:26:

Nice the top one looks real familiar, like I've got/had one somewhere. The bottom one, I've seen that style with 2 figure Mhz display, having the extra half digit, I would assume that was more towards mid 90s at purchase new, even if base style was first seen a bit earlier.

Yeah, you're right, the bottom one is most likely mid 90's. Good fit for a PCI 486 or early pentium I think.

Jaron wrote on 2022-12-07, 08:13:

Looks like that 285 I picked up is going to need a lot of TLC. It worked the first time I booted up XP, using normal VGA driver. After installing the 340.52 drivers, I was just getting black screens. Tried it in a different motherboard and I can't get anything out of it at all. Opened it up and found this.

It's not even close to the worst dust build-up I've seen, but I don't think I've ever seen rust on a component before. Thermal paste is easy enough to replace, but I don't know if I trust those thermal pads. I might have some left over from when I re-padded my PS4 last year. They seem to be 1mm pads, unless anyone knows for certain. I don't know if I want to try to clean it up or just return it.

Ouch... yeah, I've seen plenty of rusty cards but they tend to be 20+ years old or sold in scrap piles. That thing has had a rough life if it has rust on the portion of the DVI connector facing inside the case.

I would say if you can give it a quick cleaning and try it again, it could just be some debris is actually causing a short or some other unwanted anomaly.

Returning it would definitely depend on what you paid for it.

Jaron wrote on 2022-12-07, 08:13:

Looks like that 285 I picked up is going to need a lot of TLC. It worked the first time I booted up XP, using normal VGA driver. After installing the 340.52 drivers, I was just getting black screens. Tried it in a different motherboard and I can't get anything out of it at all. Opened it up and found this.

It's not even close to the worst dust build-up I've seen, but I don't think I've ever seen rust on a component before. Thermal paste is easy enough to replace, but I don't know if I trust those thermal pads. I might have some left over from when I re-padded my PS4 last year. They seem to be 1mm pads, unless anyone knows for certain. I don't know if I want to try to clean it up or just return it.

This card isn't screaming quality.
I'd return it as it is about to die IMHO. You can't know if any other part is failing, it needs a thorough cleaning and could be memory related. Try pressing on the ram chips to see if i tchanges anything. BIOS could be corrupted.

Edit: I put new pads on some cards I got recently and they had 1mm pads.
Measure the ones that are still there, some parts don't get pressed at all.

No luck with it so far. I cleaned it up, replaced the TIM on the chip, and it's still not outputting any display. The mounting screws holding the cooler to the board were also rusted, so who knows how much corrosion this card has faced. It's like it was in an office at the docks or something.

The seller does offer "free" returns, but I have to pay shipping to get it back. I'll see if that's true for defective parts or not. At only $20, it'd cost almost that much sending it back. Hmmmmm

If it was described as working and any external rusty bits weren't shown in pictures you may be able to get them either cover the return or just refund it.

... Though it's kind of a crappy situation for both parties if it looks fine on the outside and technically worked for a while when you got it. They couldn't know if it was rusty under the heatsink or if it was about to die. I would be understanding with them and explain the situation without making demands.

Today Gigabyte GA-630 Banshee card that I bought has arrived. Pretty much the best Banshee out there with whopping 130MHz memory and 110MHz core clocks. I've already tested it and it works fine, fan is a bit loud but i can fix that.

DW12 wrote on 2022-12-07, 18:51:

Today Gigabyte GA-630 Banshee card that I bought has arrived. Pretty much the best Banshee out there with whopping 130MHz memory and 110MHz core clocks. I've already tested it and it works fine, fan is a bit loud but i can fix that.

Wow, nice! Those are tough to find. Very pretty card indeed. I think I remember talking about this card a while back and it may be one of the first blue PCB graphics cards... or something... it's been a while.

EDIT: I think it's also a very very early example of a blue PCB from Gigabyte, as their motherboards weren't blue until at least 2 years after this Banshee was made. Miro (Sound) was the only other consumer brand I can think of that used blue PCBs somewhat frequently before this Banshee, and it looks like there may have been a blue Voodoo 2 from PowerColor as well. Either way... pretty rare for the time. 😀

It definitely needs a cleaning, but I couldn't say no for $60.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-07, 19:28:

Wow, nice! Those are tough to find. Very pretty card indeed. I think I remember talking about this card a while back and it may be one of the first blue PCB graphics cards... or something... it's been a while.

EDIT: I think it's also a very very early example of a blue PCB from Gigabyte, as their motherboards weren't blue until at least 2 years after this Banshee was made. Miro (Sound) was the only other consumer brand I can think of that used blue PCBs somewhat frequently before this Banshee, and it looks like there may have been a blue Voodoo 2 from PowerColor as well. Either way... pretty rare for the time. 😀

*nasal hipster voice*
Pfff! Blue PCBs are so 1986.
😉

Doornkaat wrote on 2022-12-08, 07:18:

*nasal hipster voice* Pfff! Blue PCBs are so 1986. 😉 […]
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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-07, 19:28:

Wow, nice! Those are tough to find. Very pretty card indeed. I think I remember talking about this card a while back and it may be one of the first blue PCB graphics cards... or something... it's been a while.

EDIT: I think it's also a very very early example of a blue PCB from Gigabyte, as their motherboards weren't blue until at least 2 years after this Banshee was made. Miro (Sound) was the only other consumer brand I can think of that used blue PCBs somewhat frequently before this Banshee, and it looks like there may have been a blue Voodoo 2 from PowerColor as well. Either way... pretty rare for the time. 😀

*nasal hipster voice*
Pfff! Blue PCBs are so 1986.
😉

Wow! That's pretty nifty.

... still, not exactly a common piece. 😁

I would LOVE to add one of those to my collection some day.

All this talk of blue PCBs has me wanting to make an all-blue retro build.

hmm... I wonder if I have all the needed parts to do that actually. 🤔

DW12 wrote on 2022-12-07, 18:51:

Today Gigabyte GA-630 Banshee card that I bought has arrived. Pretty much the best Banshee out there with whopping 130MHz memory and 110MHz core clocks. I've already tested it and it works fine, fan is a bit loud but i can fix that.

Oh wow, I actually have one NIB (though the box is pretty beat up 😁) and never knew it was a fast specimen.. I would exchange my Elsa Banshee with this, but I really like the passive cooling setup 🙁

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-08, 07:26:

Wow! That's pretty nifty. […]
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Wow! That's pretty nifty.

... still, not exactly a common piece. 😁

I would LOVE to add one of those to my collection some day.

All this talk of blue PCBs has me wanting to make an all-blue retro build.

hmm... I wonder if I have all the needed parts to do that actually. 🤔

No, not a common piece at all, which makes the blue PCB so much cooler!😃
Not that later consumer cards aren't. Gigabyte was certainly on to something.👍 VillageTronic made Banshees and V3's with blue PCB and red anodiesd heatsink. Beautiful!😎

I'd like to do an all blue build as well but ISA sound only doesn't seem adequate and I'm missing a blue Vortex2 that would be my PCI sound card of choice. I have newer blue cards but they don't feel right for Win9x.😅

appiah4 wrote on 2022-12-08, 08:04:

DW12 wrote on 2022-12-07, 18:51:

Today Gigabyte GA-630 Banshee card that I bought has arrived. Pretty much the best Banshee out there with whopping 130MHz memory and 110MHz core clocks. I've already tested it and it works fine, fan is a bit loud but i can fix that.

Oh wow, I actually have one NIB (though the box is pretty beat up 😁) and never knew it was a fast specimen.. I would exchange my Elsa Banshee with this, but I really like the passive cooling setup 🙁

That's very generic looking box, weird... According to Tweakstone's Banshee Asylum site the original box should look different:
https://3dfx-banshee.de/banshee-cards-overvie … igabyte-ga-630/
Your box states x4/x2 AGP support which is wrong. Banshee doesn't benefit from AGP bus, it runs at x1 speed and treats AGP bus as a 66MHz PCI bus.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-07, 19:28:

DW12 wrote on 2022-12-07, 18:51:

Today Gigabyte GA-630 Banshee card that I bought has arrived. Pretty much the best Banshee out there with whopping 130MHz memory and 110MHz core clocks. I've already tested it and it works fine, fan is a bit loud but i can fix that.

Wow, nice! Those are tough to find. Very pretty card indeed. I think I remember talking about this card a while back and it may be one of the first blue PCB graphics cards... or something... it's been a while.

EDIT: I think it's also a very very early example of a blue PCB from Gigabyte, as their motherboards weren't blue until at least 2 years after this Banshee was made. Miro (Sound) was the only other consumer brand I can think of that used blue PCBs somewhat frequently before this Banshee, and it looks like there may have been a blue Voodoo 2 from PowerColor as well. Either way... pretty rare for the time. 😀

I love blue PCB cards 😀. I also have a Gigabyte Rage 128 Pro card which has... red PCB. It's still really weird for me looking at this card as I am so used to Gigabyte having blue PCB cards 😁.

DW12 wrote on 2022-12-08, 19:30:

That's very generic looking box, weird... According to Tweakstone's Banshee Asylum site the original box should look different: […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2022-12-08, 08:04:

DW12 wrote on 2022-12-07, 18:51:

Today Gigabyte GA-630 Banshee card that I bought has arrived. Pretty much the best Banshee out there with whopping 130MHz memory and 110MHz core clocks. I've already tested it and it works fine, fan is a bit loud but i can fix that.

Oh wow, I actually have one NIB (though the box is pretty beat up 😁) and never knew it was a fast specimen.. I would exchange my Elsa Banshee with this, but I really like the passive cooling setup 🙁

That's very generic looking box, weird... According to Tweakstone's Banshee Asylum site the original box should look different:
https://3dfx-banshee.de/banshee-cards-overvie … igabyte-ga-630/
Your box states x4/x2 AGP support which is wrong. Banshee doesn't benefit from AGP bus, it runs at x1 speed and treats AGP bus as a 66MHz PCI bus.

It's the box mine came in. I mean you could say it is in the wrong box, but the stickers on the box explicitly say Banshee so..

Remember, those years were a weird time. Banshee was the hotness one day and 6 months later nobody gave a fuck about it. I wouldn't be surprised if Gigabyte dumped some stock to a third party who packaged them in generic boxes and sold them to retail as bargain products, or some such.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-12-08, 20:07:

DW12 wrote on 2022-12-08, 19:30:

That's very generic looking box, weird... According to Tweakstone's Banshee Asylum site the original box should look different: […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2022-12-08, 08:04:

Oh wow, I actually have one NIB (though the box is pretty beat up 😁) and never knew it was a fast specimen.. I would exchange my Elsa Banshee with this, but I really like the passive cooling setup 🙁

That's very generic looking box, weird... According to Tweakstone's Banshee Asylum site the original box should look different:
https://3dfx-banshee.de/banshee-cards-overvie … igabyte-ga-630/
Your box states x4/x2 AGP support which is wrong. Banshee doesn't benefit from AGP bus, it runs at x1 speed and treats AGP bus as a 66MHz PCI bus.

It's the box mine came in. I mean you could say it is in the wrong box, but the stickers on the box explicitly say Banshee so..

Remember, those years were a weird time. Banshee was the hotness one day and 6 months later nobody gave a fuck about it. I wouldn't be surprised if Gigabyte dumped some stock to a third party who packaged them in generic boxes and sold them to retail as bargain products, or some such.

Yeah, that's probably the case here.

There was the white box thing too, manufacturers would sell stuff cheaper to the myriad of small OEMs either just per case in antistatic bags, or in "white boxes" with no colorful retail artwork (Difference between a 25 cent commodity box and a $1.50 glossy high res printed custom box) and sometimes these were repacked and sold "retail" but with only 30 day return to store warranty or something without the retail extras.

Got this I-O Data PK-X486S50-3 upgrade for 286 systems.

While it unfortunately doesn't fit my Epson Equity III+ due to the Epson's annoying board layout, I'm going to try this in one of my Tandy TL's.

Meanwhile I've got another 286-to-386 upgrade on the way that I'm hoping might work in the Epson instead...