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Retro Rig Photo Thread

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Reply 340 of 2685, by elianda

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I will see if I can set the limits of the ftp a bit higher within the next days.
As a quick fix just refresh the page once and it will load the remaining images, works fine here.

Retronn.de - Vintage Hardware Gallery, Drivers, Guides, Videos. Now with file search
Youtube Channel
FTP Server - Driver Archive and more
DVI2PCIe alignment and 2D image quality measurement tool

Reply 342 of 2685, by GXL750

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Picked up an old Compaq Deskpro from a friend of mine the other day. 256mb pc133 sdram, 667mhz Pentium III, Intel 815 chipset, CD burner, 10gb hard drive, SoundBlaster AudioPCI, WinXP Pro and a 4mb Trident 975 video card. Originally had a cd rom drive, 6gb hard drive. The computer cleaned up pretty nicely. Was very dirty when I got it and I replaced the IDE cables since one was ripped and both were rather long and were bunched up and cluttering the case. Pulled the face plate off the cd drive that it came with and used it to replace the black face plate originally on the cd burner I installed. The Trident video card I installed came from another forum member and while it's not exactly stellar, it's the only PCI video card I have with a video out. Also installed a wireless network card. I currently have the computer plugged into my television and it's now mostly used for games that work with the game pad I have as well as YouTube. Being small, quiet and just fast enough for Youtube, the computer is serving it's new purpose well though I hope to soon find a better video card with a TV out. While I have that trident card installed, it would be nice if I could find a way to make it's video inputs work under WinXP though I would need a bigger hard drive if I actually wanted to save video.

EDIT: Since posting, the computer's changed a bit. Now, it has a DVD burner, 1.26ghz Pentium III-s, SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS, 80gb WD hard drive, Pinnacle DC10 video capture card, 320mb RAM. Trident video card removed, now uses internal video; moved from TV stand to a desk where it's now plugged into a 19" LCD. Still an old computer but a beast compared to when I first got the thing.

Photos:
http://imgur.com/a/uKnJJ

kFmfu.jpg

Last edited by GXL750 on 2011-12-02, 17:46. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 343 of 2685, by DonutKing

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ah man that brings back horrible memories.
I used to work at a government hospital around 2003/2004 and the total computer fleet had around 2000 PC's - all Compaqs. We were replacing pretty much everything with Pentium 4 HP/Compaqs, I had to dispose of close to a thousand of those Deskpro EN machines. I had to securely disk erase each one and remove any stickers, and if they didn't work I had to take out and destroy the hard drive.

I remember finding one that was attached to a medical scanner machine, it had a P3 with 128MB RDRAM in it. Would have cost a bloody fortune and performed not much better than a similar spec SDRAM machine.

If you are squeamish, don't prod the beach rubble.

Reply 344 of 2685, by MaxWar

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Personally i have a hard time with the government wasting our money by constantly upgrading computers that are already doing their job fine... By contrast, at a canadian tire store nearby they have been running the same computers with the green monochrone screen for what seems like forever. They do not seem to be worse off for it, they also have been using the same software for Ages.

Reply 345 of 2685, by QBiN

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DonutKing wrote:

I remember finding one that was attached to a medical scanner machine, it had a P3 with 128MB RDRAM in it. Would have cost a bloody fortune and performed not much better than a similar spec SDRAM machine.

You're talking about those first gen i820 Camino chipset P3's. Yeah... The RDRAM was a terrible idea and those PC's were junk. The i815 solano, on the other hand, was a GREAT chipset and paved the way for the awesome Tualatin boards.

Reply 346 of 2685, by GXL750

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I never had too big of an issue with RDRAM besides cost and those obnoxious continuity RIMMS. The 820 chipset doesn't deserve as much scorn as it's been given.

That said, the i815 was great save for the artificial 512mb RAM limit. Still an improvement over the 810 and of the SDRAM PIII chipsets of the early 2000s, the 815E was one of the best performing.

As for the government; they upgrade regularly for the same reason as anyone with a large installation of computers handling important data. They don't exactly get more reliable as they age; especially not when you always buy from the lowest bidder.

Unfortunately for the Deskpro EN, it only spent a few days in the pictured setup. I seem to, somehow, have bricked the motherboard. I was working on it close to the television and didn't think to ground myself; I think I may have hit something with static. All the ram chips, pci cards, etc worked when tested in my other computer. Oh well.

EDIT: Whaddya know. Days later, and only minutes after this post, I plug the sucker in and it works. I guess cussing at the computer and leaving it under a table for a day or two really does work! Well, I'm glad for that. I just broke the screen on my laptop and I was afraid it wouldn't be until I have money again that I'd be able to enjoy internet without going through that hassling process of leaving my bed in the morning. Having a computer plugged into the tv is pretty convenient; it just wouldn't work as a primary computer.

Reply 348 of 2685, by MaxWar

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telanus wrote:
It's a PII400 with 400MB ram and a Geforce 5500 gpu and C-Media soundcard […]
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It's a PII400 with 400MB ram and a Geforce 5500 gpu and C-Media soundcard

clipboard01zex.th.jpg

1002059c.th.jpg

Hey you need to use those ISA slots buddy! Its a retro pc after all 😉

Reply 349 of 2685, by DonutKing

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I recently picked up this nice AT case, gave it a good clean up and migrated my 486 machine into it. It's much cooler looking than my old case.

Sorry for the bad quality pics, it was late last night on my phone in my dimly lit computer dungeon 😜

6GawI.jpg
(sorry for the shadow in the front)

The turbo display originally read 66/33 but I've changed it to HI/LO since I wasn't using a 66MHz processor.
Current specs of my 486 are:

VL/1-486SV2G motherboard ( I believe its an Asus) with a 486DX4-100 Overdrive. The board has solder pads for a 3.3V regulator but the VRM's themselves are missing, so 5V only for this board for now.

u1Lcf.jpg

16MB RAM, 256KB 15ns L2 cache, Winbond VLB IDE controller, Quantum 1.2GB IDE HDD (with Ontrack Dynamic Disk Overlay installed for large partition support), DOS 6.22

Video card is a VLB Tseng ET4000 W32/P with 2MB of video RAM
GbdRJ.jpg

Sound cards are a Gravis Ultrasound Classic with 1MB RAM, and an Acer Magic S20 with XR385 daughterboard. The Magic S20 has a real YMF262 on it but digital sound doesn't work properly in some games (sound cuts out or doesn't play at all) so I'm waiting on an Yamaha YMF-719 to show up to replace it.

If you are squeamish, don't prod the beach rubble.

Reply 352 of 2685, by Amigaz

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DonutKing wrote:

Bingo 😀

This Diamond ET4000W32P card you have, did you buy it recently on Ebay?

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 354 of 2685, by Amigaz

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DonutKing wrote:

No I've had it for about a year, why do you ask?

There was such a card there I was watching that went for almost $100

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 356 of 2685, by elianda

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Very well configured system.
Could you add some information about network card and CD-ROM drive?
Do you plan to add some special card like TV or similar?
What OS do you use? How much memory do you use (looks like 16 MB) ?
What is the L2 cacheable size and does this SIS chipset features additional internal MB cache?
How well do Diablo and Starcraft run?

Retronn.de - Vintage Hardware Gallery, Drivers, Guides, Videos. Now with file search
Youtube Channel
FTP Server - Driver Archive and more
DVI2PCIe alignment and 2D image quality measurement tool

Reply 357 of 2685, by MaxWar

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DonutKing wrote:

Bingo 😀

Btw DonutKing, How long do you keep the parts soaking and what ratio of Laundry/water do you use? I want to try your technique over the weekend.

Reply 358 of 2685, by DonutKing

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Try to make it as strong as you can - just enough water to cover the parts and enough powder so it still dissolves - if you want to whiten the parts faster try leaving the tub out in the sun. I usually leave them soaking for 3 days at least. If all you want to do is clean 1 day is sufficient.

If you are squeamish, don't prod the beach rubble.