AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-08-05, 19:36:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-08-05, 18:51:

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-08-05, 18:42:

Very cool buy!! Are you sure it's not a Quadro FX4500 X2 instead of a GeForce 7900GX2? Can't tell just from that pic.

Oh, good call! I honestly had never even thought about the Quadro version of the 7900GX2... Upon closer inspection, I think it's the Quadro since it appears to have 4 DVI outputs! It is effectively the same card, with identical specs. So... double the outputs with no downsides? Why not! 😁

Yea super cool! I love the look of that card, its one of the only PCI-E Cards that really interests me. Since you know, AGP for life! 😁

Yeah, it's a pretty interesting card! Back in 2006 I used EVGA's Step-Up program to go from a 7900GTX to a 7950GX2 (the 7900GX2 was short lived, and I believe OEM only), which was a mistake... 🤣 It was either a bit faster when SLI worked or slower than the 7900GTX when SLI didn't work, and man was it hot and loud! I don't know how the 7900GX2 compares, but really neither one was a great product.

When the 8800GTX was released the same year and the reviews hit the internet I sold the GX2 in a heartbeat and got one of those. And yes, I have never had another year like that with GPU purchases... I learned my lesson. 🤣

I haven't actually seen a 7-series GX2 in the 18 years since then.

Honestly, I think the 7900 and 7950 GX2 were probably just thrown together to make use of some chips before their DX10 hardware made everything else irrelevant. Between all that GPU craziness and the start of Intel's Core 2 dominance, those were exciting times for hardware. 😁

Got a brand new card in the post today - and stuck it in a 1998 motherboard. And it works!

One of those.new FX5500 cards from AliExpress. Now this was a surprise as the Tekram P5MVP-A4 motherboard has an MVP3 chipset with PCI 2.1 so no mandatory 3.3V support, and I'd read these cards are universally keyed but need 3.3V to run.

But... a quick unsuccessful test in a 486 followed by a successful test of another known 3.3V card in the SS7 board shows that Tekram actually implemented 3 3V on this old clunker.

That aside the card lives up to my hopes - full VESA support for all the modes SVGATEST could throw at it. I bought it for combination of that with DVI.

dionb wrote on 2024-08-05, 22:41:

Got a brand new card in the post today - and stuck it in a 1998 motherboard. And it works!

Nice! I wasn't so lucky with that card in my Socket 7 board, no 3.3v for me apparently. I have vague plans to try and mod the card to work but more likely it'll just sink to the bottom of my treasure trove and be forgotten.

Another criminally cheap bay pickup! A pristine Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra. Mmm I just love that blue... Even has the bonus TV out!

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-08-06, 02:07:

Another criminally cheap bay pickup! A pristine Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra. Mmm I just love that blue... Even has the bonus TV out!

Wow that was a good buy. It's so beautiful. Very jealous!

And of course it needs something to plug into! How about a 25$ Abit-AV8 3rd Eye motherboard that smells factory fresh! Hopefully it actually works 😉.

Now tested, and it sure does! Whoot!

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-08-06, 02:07:

Another criminally cheap bay pickup! A pristine Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra. Mmm I just love that blue... Even has the bonus TV out!

Wow, yeah you got a pretty good deal on that. It's in beautiful condition!

Here are two of my recent acquisitions, a Philips PRO 9CM073 EGA monitor and an Altec Lansing ACS250 subwoofer as an addition to my ACS90 speakers.

I havent been on here in quote a while, and I havent done any retro PC stuff in some time, but I found these on the weekend.

This one is a Toshiba Tcra 550cdt. Missing the battery, but looking it up it has a Pentium 1 266 , with 16 megs of ram. It also has a 4MB S3 virge /MX 3D and does open GL and direct 3D. So looking forward to messing around with this one.

Also found this Compaq Armada and it is apparently a 120 mhz machine with 16 megs of ram. Looking forward to checking these out. Both were about 7 dollars each

Last, I found this atari 2600.

chrismes wrote on 2024-08-06, 09:53:

Here are two of my recent acquisitions, a Philips PRO 9CM073 EGA monitor and an Altec Lansing ACS250 subwoofer as an addition to my ACS90 speakers.

Nice crisp EGA, rare to turn up. Decent looking speakers, I was looking at an Altec Lansing set in a thrift yesterday, don't remember the model, it was probably early 2000s, thought $50 was a bit steep for thrift "all electronics as is" in a ratty box though.

chrismes wrote on 2024-08-06, 09:53:

Here are two of my recent acquisitions, a Philips PRO 9CM073 EGA monitor and an Altec Lansing ACS250 subwoofer as an addition to my ACS90 speakers.

That monitor is a nice find! I have recently acquired some EGA displays myself and one of them actually works (for once). They are getting pretty hard to find.

Also, that Altec system is really funky looking. I have seen and used many different Altec computer speakers over the years, but I've never seen that particular style. Are they from the mid 90s?

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-08-06, 18:28:

chrismes wrote on 2024-08-06, 09:53:

Here are two of my recent acquisitions, a Philips PRO 9CM073 EGA monitor and an Altec Lansing ACS250 subwoofer as an addition to my ACS90 speakers.

That monitor is a nice find! I have recently acquired some EGA displays myself and one of them actually works (for once). They are getting pretty hard to find.

Also, that Altec system is really funky looking. I have seen and used many different Altec computer speakers over the years, but I've never seen that particular style. Are they from the mid 90s?

The speakers came with some Dell systems, mine were new in box when I bought them. The manual says Copyright '96, so you are probably right. They sound quite nice with the subwoofer (I was surprised they had a connector for one). The proper speakers for the sub would be ACS52, but I can't find them in my country.

I looked for an EGA monitor for years, they were either in really bad condition, monochrome or super expensive. Now I finally found a bargain and it turned out to be nice with a great tube. It survived the shipping, but I was really nervous while it was on it's way.

Today I picked up a purple boy. A very, very purple boy.

I don't have any system to throw it at currently, but hey, I won't complain about having an overkill FX card.

BetaC wrote on 2024-08-06, 21:22:

Today I picked up a purple boy. A very, very purple boy.

I don't have any system to throw it at currently, but hey, I won't complain about having an overkill FX card.

Wooaahh what is a FX 5900 SE?? what are the specs on that? Super dig the purple, nice find!

Heads up that there are some really cheap Slot A Athlon Thunderbird CPUs on eBay right now. (10.49 shipped)

Shipping goes down to $1.99 for each additional purchased.

These look to be new.

Just search for Athlon 700.

No, it is not my listing and I do not know the person that listed them.

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-08-06, 22:31:

BetaC wrote on 2024-08-06, 21:22:

Today I picked up a purple boy. A very, very purple boy.

I don't have any system to throw it at currently, but hey, I won't complain about having an overkill FX card.

Wooaahh what is a FX 5900 SE?? what are the specs on that? Super dig the purple, nice find!

It's just a branded XT from what I can tell. Maybe a clock difference as well?

chrismes wrote on 2024-08-06, 20:30:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-08-06, 18:28:

chrismes wrote on 2024-08-06, 09:53:

Here are two of my recent acquisitions, a Philips PRO 9CM073 EGA monitor and an Altec Lansing ACS250 subwoofer as an addition to my ACS90 speakers.

That monitor is a nice find! I have recently acquired some EGA displays myself and one of them actually works (for once). They are getting pretty hard to find.

Also, that Altec system is really funky looking. I have seen and used many different Altec computer speakers over the years, but I've never seen that particular style. Are they from the mid 90s?

The speakers came with some Dell systems, mine were new in box when I bought them. The manual says Copyright '96, so you are probably right. They sound quite nice with the subwoofer (I was surprised they had a connector for one). The proper speakers for the sub would be ACS52, but I can't find them in my country.

I looked for an EGA monitor for years, they were either in really bad condition, monochrome or super expensive. Now I finally found a bargain and it turned out to be nice with a great tube. It survived the shipping, but I was really nervous while it was on it's way.

I'd be curious how it compares to an SVGA monitor for old EGA games. I haven't been able to get my hands on anything older than the late 90s for CRTs. There seems to be some disagreement here if it would make a difference. I assume that there would be a difference, but I haven't looked at anything below SVGA since the 90s.

chrismes wrote on 2024-08-06, 09:53:

Here are two of my recent acquisitions, a Philips PRO 9CM073 EGA monitor and an Altec Lansing ACS250 subwoofer as an addition to my ACS90 speakers.

Great find! I actually didn't know this model of monitor. Picture looks sharp! 👍

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-08-06, 22:57:

I'd be curious how it compares to an SVGA monitor for old EGA games. I haven't been able to get my hands on anything older than the late 90s for CRTs. There seems to be some disagreement here if it would make a difference. I assume that there would be a difference, but I haven't looked at anything below SVGA since the 90s.

I must have missed the posts here debating this. IMO it 100% makes a difference, EGA games simply don't look the same on a VGA/SVGA monitor 😀

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-08-06, 22:57:

I'd be curious how it compares to an SVGA monitor for old EGA games. I haven't been able to get my hands on anything older than the late 90s for CRTs. There seems to be some disagreement here if it would make a difference. I assume that there would be a difference, but I haven't looked at anything below SVGA since the 90s.

VGA does line doubling on 320x200 resolution, which makes it look different. Look at this photo of my EGA screen and compare it to a VGA screen, there are very distinct single lines of pixels: