MikeSG wrote on 2025-10-15, 16:04:Rare ISA video cards are sky high as well. […]
Show full quote
Rare ISA video cards are sky high as well.
ATI Mach 64 - $1000
ET 4000 W32i - $1000
CL GD5434 - $500
Some VLB video cards are up to $500 too.
Where are you getting these prices? There is nothing actually selling for those prices (in USD), and I don't even see anything listed for anywhere close to those prices other than some crazy multi-display, multi-chip commercial ET4000 W32i cards... and they aren't selling.
To be honest, I watch this stuff very closely and I have seen prices and demand for a lot of items drop considerably in the past year. To be clear, this isn't across the board for everything, but for lots of things it definitely has. Someone just got a CT-1320C with original CMS chips for $80 at auction and it only had two bids. A couple years ago that would have been a $250+ sale because they are so rare now. Sound Blaster Pro CT-1330, Goldfinch cards, and others seem to be sitting on ebay for way longer and selling for way less than they would have a few years ago as well. 3dfx cards are still high, with the rarest ones often selling for crazy prices still, but the "moderately useful, but somewhat less common" stuff like PCI Voodoo3 cards aren't being gobbled up for the prices they were last year either, so demand has at least dropped a little in the US.
Super Socket 7 boards went completely bananas for a while, peaking maybe 3-4 years ago for like $300+ minimum. I have since found some, and now and it seems hit or miss whether they'd sell for even $150. Some sell higher, but not always.
Yes, the prices are waaay higher than they were 10 years ago, but demand (and some prices) for retro things have absolutely dropped in the past year or two. Most likely it's because these are all unnecessary "toys" and "luxury items" for the most part, and when there is economic uncertainty demand for those types of things goes down. People are actually thinking about where their money goes because everything is more expensive. Also, the pandemic made people do crazy things and invest in hobbies... not to mention that people were handed wads of cash to do whatever with.
That said, one sad thing is somewhat counteracting the drop in demand... Supply is getting completely trashed because the gold prices are so high and more stuff is being scrapped for higher prices. I have wanted to buy some processors lately but any scrap lots with old CPUs or RAM are just stupidly expensive. In fact, I accumulated some scrap lots (junk! broken things, modems, etc...)over the past year of buying old parts, and I resold the scrap for easily 50% more than what I paid for it last year, and that's after pulling out the interesting parts I wanted.
People are hoarding gold, and, overall, people are less interested in expensive old computer parts. People with deep pockets who are really into retro PCs are still going to buy what they want of course.
Oh, also, retro PC youtubers and such were making a big splash several years ago, which is part of why demand skyrocketed. Now that they've covered the vast majority of the actually interesting and attainable hardware, building a SS7 system with a Voodoo 3 and a AWE64 Gold is no longer a thing that tons and tons of people are just learning about and searching for. Yes, demand is still fairly high, but it isn't like it was a few years back.
EDIT: Almost forgot... the tariff situation has complicated things quite a bit as well. I used to buy things from overseas (or even from Canada) somewhat frequently, but I don't even dare do it at this point because I have no idea if it will end up costing 10% more or 250% more by the time it hits customs and then makes it's way to me.
