Is a modded MT32 considered rare, mine has output for clean and reverb which is the best I've connected it to a sound mixer so I can choose how much reverb to mix with the clean I change the reverb a lot in dos games also it was modded by one of the two guys that were doing it back in the day apparently there was one guy doing great moddong work and the other doing not so good I don't know which did mine but the MIDI music is awesome I have it paired with a PAS 16 Pro which has less noise and pops than the SoundBlaster's I've used

Rarest parts: Compaq 64K cache module for desk top chassis most common 486 models.
Intel style cache daughterboard for one model of compaq.
Dell cache modules especially for 386 and 486.
Deskpro/M power supply board, which is a replaceable spare part as opposed to power supply in a metal box.

These 64k modules is not possible to reproduce due to cache controller 495dx used single source cache chips by Micron also proprietary as I could not find the datasheet for these SRAM ICs.

Rare Computers: IBM P75 (486 luggable costs 10,000 back in the day), PS/2 70 and 80 A models (cached 386DX 25). Deskpro/L and Systempro.

Cheers,

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-03-08, 02:05:

https://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=148966&mode=viewPentium 1 366mhz The Infamous Golden Tiger/Warrior […]
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Pentium 1 366mhz The Infamous Golden Tiger/Warrior

Had never even heard of a 366 version, and managed to get it. Probably my rarest part the freeway ultra ss7 mobo is also pretty rare, as is my killer nic pci and bga sdram

I think those are supposed to be fakes. Slower versions encased and overclocked. They are still very rare.

Probably one of these adaptors.
PL-P4/N or Asus CT-479.
The PL-P4/N allows to use a Northwood Pentium 4 on an old s423 platform.
The CT-479 to use the Pentium M (successor of the Tualatin, predecessor of the Core) on several s478 boards.

Or maybe my Freeway FW-6400GX/150, a mainboard that allows both Slot 1 and Slot 2 CPUs.

I have a 3dfx Voodoo 4 4500 that I got by pure luck many years ago, but I kinda hesitate to call that actually rare. Although it is one of the harder Voodoo cards to find and it's cool owning their last product.

I own an iMac DV with a Elo touch screen module installed. Bought it from my friend back in 2010, and my understanding is that the system was used as a kiosk for informational use in education.

Rarer stuff that randomly appeared and I randomly bought since my last entries on this thread...
Voyetra OP-4001 intelligent MIDI MPU401 card and interface/dongle.
Roland RAP-10 soundcard.
Asus P5A-B (But those are just sought after not..) in it's box.

There are some pretty rare parts in mycollection:
- Compaq Systempro (I know of two fellow vogoners owning one or two)
- Compaq Systempro XL
- Compaq Proliant 4500 (Quad Socket 4/5)
- Compaq Proliant 8500 (octo Xeon Slot 2)
- SNI PCM 3 (386DX-Microchannel System build by Siemens, unluckily the Refdisk is missing)*
- Epson 11 MB 5,25" Floppy drive (dedicated ISA Controller and special disks)*
- Creative soundblaster MC (the holy grail of microchannel computing)
- Spea FGA860 (i860 based Graphics Subsystem)
- IBM PC750 (Type 6886 PCI/MCA Pentium 133, my fastest MCA based PC system)
- IBM H80 (RS/6000 rack mount server build by two 4U 19" units connected via 4 cables)
- Proliant DL565 (quad Opteron)
- Proliant 1000 (FDIV bug Pentium 60 MHz, big tower)
* I did not find any information or hints on either of these in the internet, so feel free to contact me if you know anything

Rarest piece of hardware that I own as of 2025:

• Zoltrix Z-Boxer gamepad, gameport version.
• 2 MB SGRAM expansion module for the Compaq S3 ViRGE/GX.
• Primax SoundStorm M16C , GF1-based GUS clone with ICS mixer and CD audio connectors.
• Sound Blaster Pro 2 CT1690, the one with the Sony CD interface.
• S3 Trio3D/2X 8 MB PCI.
• Lexmark Model M 1398601 keyboard.

My Abit KT7A-RAID I guess, which is a Socket A motherboard with an ISA slot and universal AGP. Relevant link on The Retro Web, if anyone's curious.

This board can officially take Duron and Athlon CPUs, but unofficially, you can even run certain AthlonXP models on it. I was using an AthlonXP 1700+ (Thoroughbred B) with mine for a long time without any issues. Also, thanks to SoftMenu III, you can overclock or downclock the CPU with ease, if the multiplier is unlocked. The aforementioned Thoroughbred B could be slowed down to 5x100 MHz using that approach. Makes for a very versatile retro rig.

Unfortunately, the caps on my KT7A-RAID have started to go bad, so I'm not using it anymore. I do have a desoldering station now, so I will replace them at some point, it's just not a huge priority. BTW, I still have the original box, manual and installation CD, since I had bought this motherboard back when it was new.

The Voodoos are supposedly rare, but it looks like we have hoarded all of them around here...

I have a 12MB V2 (Genius brand, seems to be a rebranded Gainward Dragon) and a 64MB 5500AGP.

Rarest thing here is probably the full height SCSI-1 Imprimis model 94171-376.

Scarcest thing here is a working ISA IDE/Multi IO card. I probably have more than 20 of the bastards, N-O-N-E work. The one in my 386 is only an IDE/FDC of which only the IDE portion works. The one in my 486 is also only IDE/FDC, luckily both work. I have anonther one like this lying about with only the IDE part working (last I checked) but really NONE of my combo ones with IDE, FDC, serial and parallel port work. This is probably the part I have seen packing up the most in my life, even more than modern "gpu" type graphics cards.

A fully working IBM Thinkpad A22p with the IBM Dock II (the one with the extra PCI slot).

I restored it to perfect condition, I even got lucky and was able to buy a new keyboard for it. These machines aren't easy to find, due to the ADP3421 chip failure. The chip can be replaced, but I guess most people just throw out the machine when it doesn't turn on anymore.

I also have an XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI board that still works, with matching 16GB RAM. 🥰

Oh, and that quad-CPU board from Supermicro.

Wowee , its been 2 years since(oh actually 3 , geeze) I posted on this thread last , time sure does fly by.
Anywho I've sold off a fair bit of my actually rare hardware as I never really used most of it , I sold a boxed pas 16 , my unusual Rendition Verite 2200 card , and Tseng ET6100.
But I have kept the gravis clone card, the MPU 401 and the PowerVR card as they do get some pretty good use.

That being said the only thing that I've acquired computer wise that might be considered rare (but maybe its not and its just more uncommon) would be the original NEC Multisync computer monitor.

I've paired it up with a sharp X68000 and a combo CM32P+CM32L setup with PCM cards that some games like Gemini Wing support.
I suspect it might need a recap though as its a bit unstable at times.

My List:

AMD Athlon FX-60 with Box, Complete
AMD Opteron 156 Socket 939
Geforce 256 DDR 64MB AGP
ATI Radeon 9100 PCI
EVGA NF4 SLI X 16 Socket 939 Motherboard with Box, Complete

Not exactly sure how rare most of them are, but they are probably the items of most current "Value", except the Opteron 156, that is definitely rare.

Revoked

I don't have really much rare hardware besides a very obscure Siemens-Nixdorf PC with one of those ALR EISA boards (those with the removable CPU card) in it.

PC - Hardware, not really. Besides a MediaGX mainboard from Cyrix, GUS Classic, ...

On the other hardware front:
- Atari Falcon
- Even harder to find than a Falcon: Atari TT030
- Amiga 2500/30 and Amiga 4000 (not quite rare but amazing)
- DEC Alphastation 255 (weirdly enough, very expensive on eBay and I got it for next to nothing)
- Sinclair PC200 (also ridiculously expensive on eBay)
- Acorn Archimedes 3010 - not quite rare, but it's hard to find a good one
- Acorn RiscPC
- Atari PC1
- Olivetti M24, complete with monitor, keyboard and mouse. This is a special one for me, I learned to program assembler on a similar one

Vynix wrote on 2025-01-30, 10:12:

I don't have really much rare hardware besides a very obscure Siemens-Nixdorf PC with one of those ALR EISA boards (those with the removable CPU card) in it.

Should be a PCE-4T then.
They were availiable with a (probably not very reliable Siemens motherboard) before Siemens swapped to the ALR Proveisa drop in.
The Proveisa are unique and could be upgraded to dual 486 iirc, or you could add a cache board to the second CPU slot.

I think the rarest piece of hardware I own at this point, is one of those weird Microsoft Sidewinder Dual Strike gamepads. I came across it at a thrift store last year and snagged it, thinking it could be an interesting thing to play with.

I used to have an Quantum 3D Obsidian2 X-24
Did "buy now" on ebay for 100$, came with the box and original driver disk... "like new" condition .

I did sell it a few years later at a profit (I was just not using the card back then, profit was just a bonus.. people just bided on it)

I totally regret selling that card, now I want it back so ... I could use it... Now I can't even find one, only X-16 or I guess I could get voodoo2 and SLI them but it's not the same.