Compaq Armada 7800

So I’ve had a bit of a thing for collecting some matrox cards this last few weeks. I had a 32MB g400 and a 16mb g400.

Today I’ve had a card delivered that’s a little bit special. See if you can work out why from the photos!

Looking forward to seeing what can be obtained from this card!

The G400MAX has a fan, so looks like a silent G400 with G400MAX VRAM.

If it were part of an audio workflow you'd demand silence. I know Matrox did some professional retail bundles that included a G400 along with a capture/decoder cards for NLE workflows, so maybe it's from one of those bundles?

MattRocks wrote on Yesterday, 23:12:

The G400MAX has a fan, so looks like a silent G400 with G400MAX VRAM.

If it were part of an audio workflow you'd demand silence. I know Matrox did some professional retail bundles that included a G400 along with a capture/decoder cards for NLE workflows, so maybe it's from one of those bundles?

I’m aware the max has a fan. Of course, besides a fan, the ram is the only differentiator between a g400 and the max. The cores are exactly the same silicon. Early testing saw no issue with 166 on the core and 23x on the memory.

This was part of a bundle though you’re correct. I have the capture card and breakout box / cables with original retail packaging. The card having the memory used on the max is what made me buy it.

Xicor wrote on Yesterday, 15:05:

@ last but not the least a nice Primax Soundstorm M16B (only that its a early version, so no "soundstorm" anywhere) GUS clone, boxed and with floppies and manuals. It was a bit steep at 140€ for a clone, but the box is a beauty, couldn't resist.

That is a GORGEOUS box! Congrats!

RetroAddict wrote on Today, 02:51:

This was part of a bundle though you’re correct. I have the capture card and breakout box / cables with original retail packaging. The card having the memory used on the max is what made me buy it.

Very nice!

Have you considered adding Adobe Premiere and a video camera? 😉

Browsing through ads I caught my eye on a Diamond card with a fan, accompanied with other stuff. That can mean only a few things. Among them is a TNT2 Ultra, or Viper V770U if you like. So this happened for not too much currency.

Sold as is, but everything works!

gmaverick2k wrote on Yesterday, 21:09:

Compaq Armada 7800

received next day 😁

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 17:15:

gmaverick2k wrote on Yesterday, 21:09:

Compaq Armada 7800

received next day 😁

Awesome! Got the Virgiest Virge in that, the MX.. fastest of originals, should be. Also the sound is meant to have hardware wavetable, woooo, deeeeeluxe for a lappy.

BitWrangler wrote on Today, 17:43:

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 17:15:

gmaverick2k wrote on Yesterday, 21:09:

Compaq Armada 7800

received next day 😁

Awesome! Got the Virgiest Virge in that, the MX.. fastest of originals, should be. Also the sound is meant to have hardware wavetable, woooo, deeeeeluxe for a lappy.

it's cool but the dvd drive isnt reading so have to figure something out for that

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 17:57:

BitWrangler wrote on Today, 17:43:

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 17:15:

received next day 😁

Awesome! Got the Virgiest Virge in that, the MX.. fastest of originals, should be. Also the sound is meant to have hardware wavetable, woooo, deeeeeluxe for a lappy.

it's cool but the dvd drive isnt reading so have to figure something out for that

update: it's reading orignal cd ok -_-'

Xicor wrote on Yesterday, 15:05:

@ last but not the least a nice Primax Soundstorm M16B (only that its a early version, so no "soundstorm" anywhere) GUS clone, boxed and with floppies and manuals. It was a bit steep at 140€ for a clone, but the box is a beauty, couldn't resist.

That's a cool find. Well worth the 140€ in my opinion.

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 18:43:

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 17:57:

BitWrangler wrote on Today, 17:43:

Awesome! Got the Virgiest Virge in that, the MX.. fastest of originals, should be. Also the sound is meant to have hardware wavetable, woooo, deeeeeluxe for a lappy.

it's cool but the dvd drive isnt reading so have to figure something out for that

update: it's reading orignal cd ok -_-'

It might be that classic, "capacitor on the read head slowly failing" thing, first they quit reading burned DVDs, then orig DVDs, then burned CD then lastly CD at all.

Snapped up this rare AST Bravo LC 5166 a little while ago just as I'm starting to come out of my little break from the scene, waiting for it to ship from Italy. This particular chassis design houses a very specific 1997 series of 430TX chipset boards - this is the first one from the series I've seen pop up since a Bravo MS 5166M (which ofc I bought) over a year ago. Seller is saying "PC turns on and does not display to monitor, selling for not working", but that could be something simple to solve like a dodgy RAM stick or PEBKAC. Either way, it has what appears to be the OEM hard drive along with the original proprietary HDD mounting hardware, which my MS 5166M doesn't have. It would be too greedy to hope that the HDD not only works, but also still has the original OEM Windows installation, right?

This is my holy grail tbh, because I now know for a fact my family either had an LC 5166/5200 or MS 5166/5200 (no MMX) as our first PC. And based on a printed spec sheet I found, I know it also had a Virge DX/GX and ALS120 sound added. Given that LC models lack the integrated ESS audio of the MS, and the onboard ATI 3D Rage II+ DVD has a tragic 1MB memory (vs 2MB on MS), this leans me more heavily into it being an LC model. This little quest of mine never seems to end.

Bought an "Omega" (UK OEM) branded socket 7 PC.

All the parts in this one have date stamped ICs from 1996, except for the graphics card which is from 1997, and the hard drive which seems to be a drop in replacement from around 2000.

- 6x86 120MHz
- 32MB EDO
- 4MB S3 ViRGE VX
- Quantum Fireball 3.2GB
- DTK PAM 0050S

It had a vanilla install of Windows 98 that somebody had installed in 2004. So far I've added a CompactFlash reader, next to format and install Windows 95 OSR2.

BitWrangler wrote on Today, 20:25:

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 18:43:

gmaverick2k wrote on Today, 17:57:

it's cool but the dvd drive isnt reading so have to figure something out for that

update: it's reading orignal cd ok -_-'

It might be that classic, "capacitor on the read head slowly failing" thing, first they quit reading burned DVDs, then orig DVDs, then burned CD then lastly CD at all.

No, it's reading burnt cd fine, just installed windows 98 burnt cd edition. It failed to read a burnt cd version of aoe2 I pulled out of my case as the initial test cd