VOGONS


post up pics of your "computing area"

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Reply 2340 of 2353, by Living

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theelf wrote on 2025-06-08, 23:28:
Im in the middle of cleaning, because i had some watter from roof, and take a pictures of my computer room […]
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Im in the middle of cleaning, because i had some watter from roof, and take a pictures of my computer room

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it screams LGR storage

Reply 2341 of 2353, by Living

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chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-23, 06:50:
Taken a year, it's still not quite finished, but here is my retro setup. […]
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Taken a year, it's still not quite finished, but here is my retro setup.

Gararge-All.jpg

I had something very similar in the UK but as anyone with more then 2 computers can confirm. cabling becomes a nightmare. so have put more thought into it this time.

This is my "THE RACK OF POWER" (consumption)

Gararge-Rack.jpg

Bottom Shelf left to right.
Duel 1Ghz G4 Mac G4 Got myself a Mac G4 -Help!
Dual Xeon 5450, Radeon HD 4890 Crossfire XP build: My Dual Socket XP Build
Dual Xeon 3.8Ghz Windows 2000 Server build: Windows 2000 20th Anniversary Client/server build

Second from the bottom shelf.
Duel Xeon E5504 Win7/XP build: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t= ... soundcard)
Slot 1 P3 1Ghz GF4 Ti4600 Dos/Win98 build: Dell makes surprisingly good retro PC's
S370 P3 1Ghz, Voodoo 3 PCI (Work in progress)

Third from the bottom shelf
Dual Slot 1 P3 600, GF2 MX + Voodoo 2 SLI Dos/Win98/2k build: Asus P2B-DS Build
Dual PPro 200, Matrox Mystique, Voodoo 1 Dos/Win95/NT3.51 build: Duel Pentium Pro build
Slot A Athlon 650, Banshee, Vortex 2 Dos/Win98 build: Slot A FIC SD11 Dumpter find

"Comms shelf"
Pair of dial up modems, Cisco ATA and 2611 Dial up network https://youtu.be/AEiYyMwW8gY?si=0YFCoYAxoXMg5d00
Dell Power connect 24 Port switch.

Top Shelf
Osborne DX2/66 VLB Dos 6.22/WFW 3.11 Osbone 486 DX2 66 VL-Bus (My 1st PC ever)
Crown 9510 POD 83, VLB Dos 6.22/WFW 3.11 I accidently got a TCS9510 486 VLB PC
5x86 133, Win95 Another 486 being built
Recent find 386 in tower with 286 badge. Future project.

On the floor I have a massive tower case which original had the P2B-DS motherboard but is currently empty.
Above that the S478, GF 6800 Ultra Win9x/XP build: P4P800 End of Win98 Support Build
On top is my Quad GTX590 WinXP/Win7 build: My main XP rig. LGA 775 Asus P5N-D, GTX590 SLI, SB X-Fi

Gararge-Desk.jpg
Desk has 3 HP EliteDisplay 201's chosen for having VGA/DVI/DP inputs and a Dell 5:4 monitor. All 4 VGA inputs connected to a separate KVM.
DVI is often used as a 2nd screen on more modern computers.
DP used to be used for laptops but these need setting up again.

Also on the desk is my SC-55 (typically hooked up to the Osborne) and my Logitech Z5500 speakers.

To connect this many computers to the speakers I have a 4 port toslink switch, or each PC also has a standard audio cable from the back I can plug the speakers direct into.
This does means I loose true 5.1 surround sound but currently with 2 small children I'm actually using my headphones more at the moment.

The cabinets above the screens have all my CD's and above them some of my Big Box software. (I think the rest is still at my parents)

get a better chair, your back will thank you

Reply 2342 of 2353, by theelf

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Living wrote on 2025-07-23, 12:04:
theelf wrote on 2025-06-08, 23:28:
Im in the middle of cleaning, because i had some watter from roof, and take a pictures of my computer room […]
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Im in the middle of cleaning, because i had some watter from roof, and take a pictures of my computer room

The attachment 20250427_153018.jpg is no longer available
The attachment 20250427_151503.jpg is no longer available
The attachment 20250427_151455.jpg is no longer available

it screams LGR storage

jaja, love lgr pictures of he storage

maxresdefault.jpg

Reply 2343 of 2353, by chinny22

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KVM Nerd wrote on 2025-07-23, 11:21:

I love it! The more computers the better, that's also my vibe!

Chances are high you might like my project too once I've posted it here. It still needs a lot of love to get in a reasonable state so I can take photos of it. I am a family dad too, so you'll know what that means.

They all have specific roles, so i do need them all, honest 😉
will wait for your setup, aways good to "borrow" ideas of other peoples setup.

Living wrote on 2025-07-23, 12:09:

get a better chair, your back will thank you

Agreed! That was supposed to be my birthday present from the wife although must be a hold up as my birthdays in January?
Some point she'll want her dinning chair back I suppose.

Reply 2344 of 2353, by RetroPCCupboard

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chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-23, 06:50:

Taken a year, it's still not quite finished, but here is

Love this setup! You seem to have a fondness for dual processor systems.

Not sure I understand what you have done with your wiring to connect all of these to your keyboard/mouse/screens/audio.

I am still in design phase of my setup. Hopefully will be using two 8 port VGA/PS/2 belkin KVMs (haven't tried chaining them yet), and two 8-port stereo audio mixers.

I won't have 16 PCs hooked up. Probably more like 11-12. I don't have space for more.

I think 2-3 of the systems will have 4 channel audio for A3D / EAX games. My main DOS system will probably use one audio channel for the sound card, another for the CD Audio and, possibly, another for Waveblaster Midi if I use my Dreamblaster X2 board, which has its own audio out.

Reply 2345 of 2353, by H3nrik V!

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RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-09, 05:45:
chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-23, 06:50:

Taken a year, it's still not quite finished, but here is

Love this setup! You seem to have a fondness for dual processor systems.

Because dual (or more) is downright Badass 😎

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 2346 of 2353, by RetroPCCupboard

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H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-08-09, 21:56:

Because dual (or more) is downright Badass 😎

Well, yes, but I am wondering what use there is for them. Games of this era didn't benefit. Is there software of that era, that did use it, still worth using?

If it is just for the coolness factor, then thats fine too.

Reply 2347 of 2353, by H3nrik V!

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RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-10, 05:08:
H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-08-09, 21:56:

Because dual (or more) is downright Badass 😎

Well, yes, but I am wondering what use there is for them. Games of this era didn't benefit. Is there software of that era, that did use it, still worth using?

If it is just for the coolness factor, then thats fine too.

For me, coolness factor is the driving factor. However on an NT based OS, the extra cpu just makes everything more responsive as well ..

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 2348 of 2353, by RetroPCCupboard

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H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-08-10, 05:27:

For me, coolness factor is the driving factor. However on an NT based OS, the extra cpu just makes everything more responsive as well ..

Yes, that makes sense. I have never owned a multi-CPU system. I am mostly targetting two types of gaming build:

1) Period Accurate but high end
2) Fastest hardware that supports target OS

Type 1 is for nostalgia and compatability. Type 2 is for ultimate gaming experience with rediculously high settings.

Everyone has their own takes on this hobby. That is what makes it interesting.

Reply 2349 of 2353, by H3nrik V!

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RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-10, 05:50:
Yes, that makes sense. I have never owned a multi-CPU system. I am mostly targetting two types of gaming build: […]
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H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-08-10, 05:27:

For me, coolness factor is the driving factor. However on an NT based OS, the extra cpu just makes everything more responsive as well ..

Yes, that makes sense. I have never owned a multi-CPU system. I am mostly targetting two types of gaming build:

1) Period Accurate but high end
2) Fastest hardware that supports target OS

Type 1 is for nostalgia and compatability. Type 2 is for ultimate gaming experience with rediculously high settings.

Everyone has their own takes on this hobby. That is what makes it interesting.

My first dual CPU experience was with a dual 133 Pentium. Probably on NT4.0. While not being able to run any games, I was impressed if the responsiveness of the relatively weak setup. That made me want dual socket (or at least multi core) CPUs always ever after. Windows 2000 was pretty decent for many games

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 2350 of 2353, by chinny22

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RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-10, 05:50:
1) Period Accurate but high end 2) Fastest hardware that supports target OS […]
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1) Period Accurate but high end
2) Fastest hardware that supports target OS

Type 1 is for nostalgia and compatability. Type 2 is for ultimate gaming experience with rediculously high settings.

Everyone has their own takes on this hobby. That is what makes it interesting.

In my case it's option 2
I get a kick out of upgrading to the max. On the 486's that means 64MB Ram even if you can't cache it all.
This also means for NT variants of Windows that support 2 CPU's I want to utilise that ability, even though I have no real need.

The 2 server builds also get a bit of a benefit with the likes of Exchange, but it's not like the servers have high demand. (it's all just internal traffic)
But mostly, its just because it's fun to mess around with this high end hardware

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-09, 05:45:

Not sure I understand what you have done with your wiring to connect all of these to your keyboard/mouse/screens/audio.

I have 4 VGA/PS2 KVM's attached direct to 4 screens.
I did this as originally I would have say a Dos, Win98, WinXP system on each KVM. In theory allowing for a 4 player LAN.
However as the setup has grown and my space has shrunk I can't really see this happing anymore and would maybe use a pair of 8 port KVM's if I was starting over.
As having 4 keyboards and mice on the desk does get cumbersome. I did try daisy chaining, it worked fine but I found it confusing.

I also have the DVI input of a monitor attached direct to select PC's for better image. On these machines the VGA acts as a second monitor.

For sound each PC has a cable something like this in the speaker out port.
0005135_35mm-audio-extension-cable-4-pole-male-to-female-1m-white_600.jpeg
Which I then manually plug my speakers or headphones into, Telephone exchange style.

I also have a 4 way optical switch like this for the few soundcards that actually support it
AD8FS2301290NTLGFD2.jpg

I do think mixers are the better option, it's just the cost and space that puts me off.

Reply 2351 of 2353, by Kahenraz

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The biggest issue I have with using large amounts of memory on older machines is for those which have BIOSes where you can't skip the memory counter. That's always super annoying, and I actually spec those out to have considerably less memory on purpose to speed up the boot process.

Reply 2352 of 2353, by gerry

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Kahenraz wrote on 2025-08-11, 01:42:

The biggest issue I have with using large amounts of memory on older machines is for those which have BIOSes where you can't skip the memory counter. That's always super annoying, and I actually spec those out to have considerably less memory on purpose to speed up the boot process.

the first time though it's fun to imagine what you might have said watching it when the machine was new, no one had all that ram back then! But yes, tiresome after that and they really don't need it as a rule

Reply 2353 of 2353, by Kahenraz

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The FIC KC19+ with the HP OEM BIOS supports up to 1.5GB of RDRAM memory and cannot be skipped. I don't think that it even caches the memory check on a warm reboot. 😁