Rarest piece of computer stuff I have is a non-functioning Intel iPDS-100. It did work back 5 years ago, but barely, now it does not.
When I first got it nearly 30 years ago it did work ok for what it supposed to do...it is an early single floppy drive version.

In no particular order, here are some of the more rare things I own. None of these is particularly rare or desirable though:
- Televideo glass terminal
- Amiga 2000
- A specific rare model of compaq, avoiding naming the specific model because they don't come up for sale a lot.
- Voodoo 1 and 3 (not very rare I realize, but I feel obligated to mention them)
- Apple IIgs keyboard (I own a complete 2gs, but the keyboard is the rarest part)
- MT32 (I know lots of us have them but I think they're technically rare?)
- SB Pro 2 (Again, we all probably have one, but I think it's technically a rare model)

I mainly just collected stuff I have some attachment to, other than the MT32 which I bought because the old games that use it are some of my favorites, but tbh I wish in retrospect I would have just stuck with only having an SC55 because I like the SC55 better. Not that it's bad to have both, but it is a lot of extra cords when I almost always just use the SC55.

I'm probably done collecting at this point, although I am sometimes tempted to get another SB, or Voodoo. The thing that holds me back is that probably 80% of my hardware is just sitting on shelves unused, which really bugs me, especially because my collection isn't even that big.

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-01-19, 20:01:

Cyrix PCI to ISA evaluation board.

I finally found an Antex Z1 sound card a few months back. Had been looking for that particular unicorn for over 5 years.

Probably the only one in existence.

Oldskoolmaniac wrote on 2016-12-31, 23:53:

For me it would have to be my Powerleap PL-IP3/T and my 3dfx voodoo 3 2000 PCI

Currently: The same Powerleap PL-IP3/T sporting a Tualatin Celeron 1.4Ghz on an ASUS P2B-B motherboard. It's basically my maxed out DOS/Win98 box, all the way down to ISA support.

Previously it was a Diamond Trackstar Plus. I paid a fortune for it at the time, and sold it for a decent amount later. The beginnings of AppleWin obsoleted it, but there was nothing like it at the time.
http://www.applelogic.org/Trackstar.html

My most rare piece of hardware that I am aware of is probably either my Rage Fury MAXX graphics card, or my ASRock 939 Dual SATA II motherboard. Both are kind of weird, were only relevant for a short period of time, and were probably recycled pretty quickly once they were replaced. I haven't searched for prices on the motherboard, but I also have not run across anyone aside from PixelPipes who had one of those boards!

Mine would almost certainly be the Yamaha PLG150-DX plug-in expansion board for various late '90s and early 2000s XG MIDI devices. It adds a fully-programmable 6-operator FM synthesiser- essentially a Yamaha DX7/TX7 on a card with the benefit of hundreds of presets and XG effects integration.

There were a few on sale through eBay or Reverb at the time I bought it a few years back, but they don't come up much any more. It's somewhat redundant in an era of highly-accurate software synths, but I'd say it's definitely quite rare.

Another less-rare but interesting item amongst my collection of old electronics is a Gainward Dragon Voodoo2 with non-reference board layout and factory-fitted green anodised heatsinks.

For me it's a PCI Voodoo 3 2000. V3 in PCI form is EXPENSIVE.

@sfryers I have that exact Gainward Dragon 3000 V2 12MB in my Dell Optiplex GX1. Paired with the onboard Rage Pro Turbo, it seems to do wonders.

I think the creme of my crop would be both my PCI GT 610 and GT 430. Not PCIe, just PCI. I also have a GTX 555, and AGP Radeon HD 4650.

But for something vintage, I have for my Power Mac 7300 a Rage card with an apple branded MPEG module on it, and a few 96 and 192 mb CF cards. Also got a bunch of 6 GB microdrives.

PcBytes wrote on 2025-03-19, 23:10:

@sfryers I have that exact Gainward Dragon 3000 V2 12MB in my Dell Optiplex GX1. Paired with the onboard Rage Pro Turbo, it seems to do wonders.

The Gainward Dragon was the first 3dfx card I ever owned in 1998. Mindblowing at the time! I'm hopeful it's still buried in my parents' attic somewhere.

I was lucky enough to find an almost new-in-box one a few years ago for a very reasonable price. The box is branded differently as "2theMax VGA" and emblazoned with some random 1990s CGI dolphin artwork, but it's unmistakably the same card. I can only presume this was some sort of end-of line budget reseller trying to shift old stock once the Voodoo2 was yesterday's news. Maybe one day I'll manage to dig out my original one and have a matched SLI pair of these 😀

I've got some 2theMax sound cards.

Funny thing is their mobos are rebranded EPOX boards.

I would guess my Voodoo 4500 PCI, and also a Kyro 2SE (STG4800X) chip - on the right in the attached pic. It is a pre-production example from around 2 to 3 months before it was cancelled. Naturally not ever useable but pretty cool to own.

The rarest hardware I own is probably my Brother Meritus A53 (rebranded Veridata CyberNote A53) laptop from circa 1998. Prior to the one I bought showing up on eBay, there was only a single reference anywhere online to it (a forum post from the 2000s with zero spec details or photos). I can't find a single bit of info even on what country Brother sold this laptop in, although my guess would be the UK based on the keyboard layout. Veridata (who manufactured the laptop, subsidiary of CTX) shut down only a few months after this laptop was released because CTX went bankrupt and restructured. I doubt there are more than maybe a thousand of these left in existence these days.

I documented it properly on my website: http://www.macdat.net/laptops/brother/meritus_a53.php

sfryers wrote on 2025-03-20, 23:22:

The Gainward Dragon was the first 3dfx card I ever owned in 1998. Mindblowing at the time! I'm hopeful it's still buried in my parents' attic somewhere.

I was lucky enough to find an almost new-in-box one a few years ago for a very reasonable price. The box is branded differently as "2theMax VGA" and emblazoned with some random 1990s CGI dolphin artwork, but it's unmistakably the same card. I can only presume this was some sort of end-of line budget reseller trying to shift old stock once the Voodoo2 was yesterday's news. Maybe one day I'll manage to dig out my original one and have a matched SLI pair of these 😀

I would love a pair of these cards. They are beautiful. I can’t believe you haven’t got your original card out and tested SLI. I would have done that immediately 😆

zuldan wrote on 2025-03-21, 20:52:

sfryers wrote on 2025-03-20, 23:22:

The Gainward Dragon was the first 3dfx card I ever owned in 1998. Mindblowing at the time! I'm hopeful it's still buried in my parents' attic somewhere.

I was lucky enough to find an almost new-in-box one a few years ago for a very reasonable price. The box is branded differently as "2theMax VGA" and emblazoned with some random 1990s CGI dolphin artwork, but it's unmistakably the same card. I can only presume this was some sort of end-of line budget reseller trying to shift old stock once the Voodoo2 was yesterday's news. Maybe one day I'll manage to dig out my original one and have a matched SLI pair of these 😀

I would love a pair of these cards. They are beautiful. I can’t believe you haven’t got your original card out and tested SLI. I would have done that immediately 😆

My parents live quite a way away and there's a lot of junk in their attic! I'll get around to it one day.

hornet1990 wrote on 2025-03-21, 16:57:

I would guess my Voodoo 4500 PCI, and also a Kyro 2SE (STG4800X) chip - on the right in the attached pic. It is a pre-production example from around 2 to 3 months before it was cancelled. Naturally not ever useable but pretty cool to own.

The attachment IMG_6170.jpeg is no longer available

The Kyro2 SE. I wish so much I had it in the past for so many years even if it has most probably always been just an overclocked Kyro2 with a great TV out chip.