weedeewee wrote on 2024-10-08, 19:34:

I haven't bought it but found it for sale pretty cheap and would like to inquire others opinions about this possible purchase. […]
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I haven't bought it but found it for sale pretty cheap and would like to inquire others opinions about this possible purchase.

Asus Z8NA-D6 rev 1.01G
2x Intel Xeon E5520
2x 4GB DDR3-1066

for €35

It's a good deal. It has a PCIe slot, so good for games. A 4870X2 or 295 GPU would be era appropriate and fit the dual-things theme!

Server motherboards for use as desktops or workstations often come with an interesting caveat: a lack of USB ports. So, always budget to spend at least one or two of the PCI/e expansion slots for this purpose.

weedeewee wrote on 2024-10-08, 19:34:

I haven't bought it but found it for sale pretty cheap and would like to inquire others opinions about this possible purchase.
Asus Z8NA-D6 rev 1.01G
2x Intel Xeon E5520

Server hardware is junk if you are not into playing with useless loud hot power hungry servers, no matter the price. IT will take minutes to boot, fans will go full blast, performance of those Xeons is pathetic at around Thinkpad X220 or $3 Q6600 level.

Tested another card received yesterday: Geforce 2 Ti with 4ns memories. Which I love to see because it means it can run Ultra frequencies almost for sure. Ran 3dmark 2001 perfectly. Only needs a new fan because this sounds like a velociraptor while being chewed by a t-rex. I wish there were more new replacement retro coolers that didn't cost a fortune. I mean I like this GF2 but I'm not going to spend 20 bucks on a cooler. That's more than what I paid for the card. Best cheap genuine retro cooler I could find is this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32682508049.html which was used on Canopus cards and seems to be compatible with GF2s. I will try to lubricate the fan before I buy anything though, but not always I have had luck with that.

* edit: small caveat about that aliexpress cooler: it's 5v, which makes it significantly less useful

Carefully examine those 1000uf smd electrolytic capacitors at the leads. They tend to decay and leak. I've had the exact same card and the bad caps ate the surrounding solder joints and component leads while in storage!

Ah! Thanks for the heads up. I will check!

Just got another card I've been looking for ages.
Question: Is the pink pad thing around the bridge chip useful for something? Or is its purpose just that of preventing damage to the chip? Heat dissipation? I want to try to install an heatsink on the bridge chip.

I was thinking to get a NVME heatsink, drill two holes in it, and install it on the bridge chip using the existing heatsink mounts and maybe a couple of washers. Thoughts?

Today it finally arrived! A big package with 3 motherboards with 3 CPU's and some RAM. All are LGA 1156, something I never had before!
1. I7 875K + Asus maximus III formula + 8gb RAM
2. I7 870 + Asus P7P55D-E premium + 16gb RAM
3. I7 860s + Asus P7P55D-E deluxe + 4gb ram
All for the price of shipping (which was very steep) and no questions asked!
Tonight i will do some testing.

nd22 wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:49:

Today it finally arrived! A big package with 3 motherboards with 3 CPU's and some RAM. All are LGA 1156, something I never had b […]
Show full quote

Today it finally arrived! A big package with 3 motherboards with 3 CPU's and some RAM. All are LGA 1156, something I never had before!
1. I7 875K + Asus maximus III formula + 8gb RAM
2. I7 870 + Asus P7P55D-E premium + 16gb RAM
3. I7 860s + Asus P7P55D-E deluxe + 4gb ram
All for the price of shipping (which was very steep) and no questions asked!
Tonight i will do some testing.

High-end LGA1156 is in that state where it's stuck between retro and modern. Can make a really mean XP machine or a period-correct Vista rig while still being usable for basic tasks today or even some lighter gaming.

InterAct PC GamePad 6

Bought an ABIT KG7 RAID off the bay 😀. Should arrive from Poland.

do i get a free pierogi with it? 🤣

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:26:

I was thinking to get a NVME heatsink, drill two holes in it, and install it on the bridge chip using the existing heatsink mounts and maybe a couple of washers. Thoughts?

You can use nylon washers instead of steel or zinc too. Maybe put one of those red paper washers between that and the board or a rubber grommet for a bit of extra cushion.

Just be careful that you don't damage any of the ceramic SMD capacitors. They are very susceptible to crushing forces.

Munx wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:54:

nd22 wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:49:

Today it finally arrived! A big package with 3 motherboards with 3 CPU's and some RAM. All are LGA 1156, something I never had b […]
Show full quote

Today it finally arrived! A big package with 3 motherboards with 3 CPU's and some RAM. All are LGA 1156, something I never had before!
1. I7 875K + Asus maximus III formula + 8gb RAM
2. I7 870 + Asus P7P55D-E premium + 16gb RAM
3. I7 860s + Asus P7P55D-E deluxe + 4gb ram
All for the price of shipping (which was very steep) and no questions asked!
Tonight i will do some testing.

High-end LGA1156 is in that state where it's stuck between retro and modern. Can make a really mean XP machine or a period-correct Vista rig while still being usable for basic tasks today or even some lighter gaming.

Sincerely I do not know what to do with it. First of all I collect Abit boards and parts from the "Abit era" - 1998 - 2008. I never had or seen any of my friends with an LGA 1156 system. I am aware that this is the last classic platform from Intel.
At first try Maximus refuses to start and does not show any signs of life.
I7 860 + P7P55D-E DELUXE started right away and is now running memtest.
I7 870 + P7p55d-e premium will be next .

Sapphire AMD Radeon HD7750 1GB GDDR5 (for XP/10 machine)

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/sapphir … hd-7750-oc.b652

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:02:

Just got another card I've been looking for ages.
Question: Is the pink pad thing around the bridge chip useful for something? Or is its purpose just that of preventing damage to the chip? Heat dissipation? I want to try to install an heatsink on the bridge chip.

I have the same card and the p/o ran this card for alot of hours with little airflow in the case. I didn't even know about the bridge chip needing cooling before reading it here. Surprised the card still works.

I contemplated putting one of these on the chip + make sure i have good airflow and calling it a day. If it survived being cooked for so long it will last me long enough with that tiny heatsink on it.

Although in this users case Trying to cool the RIALTO bridge chip... it actually made the chip hotter (probably lack of airflow) so i would only put a hs on it if you have air actually flowing over the card. Or you could get a PCI bracket thing that can hold a fan next to the card and flow air over it that way. With this option you don't have to modify anything on the card. Zalman also used to make these but there are newer options aswell.

Zalman ZM-RHS1

G-X wrote on 2024-10-09, 18:44:

I have the same card and the p/o ran this card for alot of hours with little airflow in the case. I didn't even know about the […]
Show full quote

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:02:

Just got another card I've been looking for ages.
Question: Is the pink pad thing around the bridge chip useful for something? Or is its purpose just that of preventing damage to the chip? Heat dissipation? I want to try to install an heatsink on the bridge chip.

I have the same card and the p/o ran this card for alot of hours with little airflow in the case. I didn't even know about the bridge chip needing cooling before reading it here. Surprised the card still works.

I contemplated putting one of these on the chip + make sure i have good airflow and calling it a day. If it survived being cooked for so long it will last me long enough with that tiny heatsink on it.

Zalman ZM-RHS1

Might do that too! Did you remove the pink pad thingy before installing the heatsink?

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-10-09, 18:52:

G-X wrote on 2024-10-09, 18:44:

I have the same card and the p/o ran this card for alot of hours with little airflow in the case. I didn't even know about the […]
Show full quote

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:02:

Just got another card I've been looking for ages.
Question: Is the pink pad thing around the bridge chip useful for something? Or is its purpose just that of preventing damage to the chip? Heat dissipation? I want to try to install an heatsink on the bridge chip.

I have the same card and the p/o ran this card for alot of hours with little airflow in the case. I didn't even know about the bridge chip needing cooling before reading it here. Surprised the card still works.

I contemplated putting one of these on the chip + make sure i have good airflow and calling it a day. If it survived being cooked for so long it will last me long enough with that tiny heatsink on it.

Zalman ZM-RHS1

Might do that too! Did you remove the pink pad thingy before installing the heatsink?

I wouldn't ...it's there to protect tiny components on the chip ... they left the die exposed for cooling is my guess. Same thing like you would find on north/southbridge coolers back in the day.
https://pic.clubic.com/v1/images/1444443/raw. … b9ebab90aef7360 this is what it looks like without the protective pad.

I edited my post while you posted a reply so you might want to read it again ... posted a link and some extra options. I would imagine flowing air directly over the back of the card would be enough to not have to put a hs on it.

I purchased a Geforce 6800 Ultra AGP, for a descent price ( Read not cheap, but definitely discounted), from a seller with bad pictures....

This silly thing is basically brand new, it doesn't even have AGP Slot indentations on it (Never used) and it came in the Original BOX!! There was no pictures of the box at all 🤣??

So happily confused.

Read that, thanks! I like the idea of a robust solution that isn't permanent, like the nvme heatsink (with no thermal tape, just regular thermal paste) but I am worried that such solution might be too much pressure for the bridge chip to handle. Maybe with some nuts.

It's so overkill though.