I think you need to also put the word "small" in quotes, if the collection includes duplicates of these. 🤣

I can't really relate. Maybe consider which one is better for games you might theoretically set up a LAN party for?

firage wrote:

I think you need to also put the word "small" in quotes, if the collection includes duplicates of these. 🤣

Perhaps. 😀
Although, the duplicates are actually quite different. My other K8 system is an Opteron monster with SLI'd GF8800s, and the other PIII is built around one of those rare DDR s370 motherboards.

The Tualatin system you listed might actually perform better then the DDR system. One reason they never made many of those DDR boards isn't just that there wasn't a market for it, but that the system didn't gain any performance benefit from the added memory bandwidth and in fact might be hindered by the added latency. It is definitely rare though so it's definitely the more valuable system from a money perspective but might not be the most practical.

Back to your original question. It's a hard question. If I HAD to choose I'd probably go with the P3 system. It's a lot less common both in terms of available parts and in terms of how many folks have a system like it. That being said 939 systems ARE getting harder to find and I don't think they are as common as 754 or AM2 boards as I think their reign as the top end platform was shorter lived.

If it were me. I'd check recent ebay auctions for similar systems and put an add in your local online classifies like craigslist. Maybe let nature take it's course and see which one sells faster and keep the other one? OR maybe see which one gets the most attention and keep THAT one and get rid of the one that has less interest? 🤣.

I would definately keep the Tualatin system!
There are multiple reasons:
1. It's a lot cooler 😎 It's an Ultra High End Socket 370 system with a Tualatin board and the fastest Tualatin. The second system is just an average gamer rig from around 2004/2005.
2. It's more rare / interesting / sought after
3. Soon you can buy a USB stick that can perfectly do the same tasks that your second system can do but it will never have the old school feeling of system 1

Standard Def Steve wrote:

The Pentium III: PIII-S 1400 @ 1585MHz Asus TUV4X (VIA 694X chipset) 1.5GB PC133 SDRAM Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB Sound Blaster X-Fi […]
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The Pentium III:
PIII-S 1400 @ 1585MHz
Asus TUV4X (VIA 694X chipset)
1.5GB PC133 SDRAM
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeMusic
250GB 7200RPM IDE HDD, 24x DVD-RW
3DMark01SE: 11,544

You didn't mention OS. If this PIII system can run Windows 9x, then keep this one. The latter Athlon 64 runs Windows XP, I presume. Can Windows 7 not run most Windows XP games anyway?

Intel is cool, go with them. AMD isn't bad, but I've had AMD for so long in my life, Intel is like a breath of fresh air from the filthy mank pits of AMD's terrible architectures.

Wait, what's that? AMD Released Ryzen? About a year after my switch to Intel?

gg, AMD, gg.

And for the windows 7 thing, Windows 10 can technically run MS-DOS games natively if you use the 32-bit version, but that is mostly presumption on my part, don't take my word for it.

Also a common misconception is that 64 bit CPUs can't run the 16 bit x86 instructions for DOS programs, but that is actually untrue. They can, but they can't also run 64x instructions at the same time, which is why a 32-bit Windows environment on an x64 machine can run Win16 programs.

If you are downsizing for space, and if neither of them are important to you, then I would get rid of the computer case/PSU and keep the motherboards/CPUs in a box with your other gear. You might regret not having one of these boards in the next 10-15 years. I tossed a lot of 486 boards in 2002, which I now regret.

feipoa wrote:

If you are downsizing for space, and if neither of them are important to you, then I would get rid of the computer case/PSU and keep the motherboards/CPUs in a box with your other gear. You might regret not having one of these boards in the next 10-15 years. I tossed a lot of 486 boards in 2002, which I now regret.

This! Take out the batteries and store the motherboards. Just a short time before i became interested i retro stuff i tossed out two Intel socket 7 ATX boards i kept for many years. Now i regret! They wouldnt take much space in a Box.

I'd agree with feipoa here. It depends why are you downsizing (too much stuff or space problems). If latter than do as he says. Get rid of the cases and keep the parts. That's what I'm doing in most cases.

Scraphoarder wrote:

feipoa wrote:

If you are downsizing for space, and if neither of them are important to you, then I would get rid of the computer case/PSU and keep the motherboards/CPUs in a box with your other gear. You might regret not having one of these boards in the next 10-15 years. I tossed a lot of 486 boards in 2002, which I now regret.

This! Take out the batteries and store the motherboards. Just a short time before i became interested i retro stuff i tossed out two Intel socket 7 ATX boards i kept for many years. Now i regret! They wouldnt take much space in a Box.

Same here, except I was keeping anything newer than Pentium 1 stuff at the time.

I gave away some Awe32s, some SB16s, some Socket 7 boards (pentium 1 era).

Then later I gave away my CPU collection. Had a bunch of old random stuff.. AMD, Intel, Cyrix, and even a 386-486 upgrade.

Makes me a sad panda now.

Find somewhere dry and cosy to store these systems and store them.

I threw away a working socket 939 system when I upgraded to my Intel 4670k and realised I should have just packed it up and tucked in the loft for 5 years.

I now find myself spending good money to buy old stuff that I had.

I'd keep the Tualatin system, as it is much more a collector's item (for now, anyways). However, that ATI Radeon 1950 AGP is also a keeper.

That said, storing components (as opposed to actual systems) doesn't take that much space. ATX motherboards are a perfect fit in USPS Region-A boxes (can also house the installed memory/CPU. GPU's I store with some anti-static bag and put them in a bin. Only PITA is the CPU heatsink/fan. But premium heatsink/fans of yester-year are quite rare nowadays.

Well, you guys have convinced me to keep both. I probably will regret letting go of the AGP 939 system a few years from now. I certainly wish that I hadn't thrown away that IBM PS/2 system 15 years ago. I'll just take the AMD system apart and put the components in storage for now.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I'll always regret giving up my ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe with an unlocked Athlon XP 2500+ Barton OC'd to 2.5GHz. Runner up would be my ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe. Functionality wise, no real reason to keep them cause the next system would do the same thing only faster.

I will NEVER give up my ASUS Crosshair IV Formula and Phenom II X6 1100T OC'd to 4.0GHz