VOGONS


First post, by treeman

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obviously we all have alot more time on our hands thesedays. So today i decided to go through my prized motherboard collection.

I did think I had slightly more and I am curious what numbers others have and see a average from that.

For my collection I included from 286 - socket 7 as those are my favourite years I have probably 5-10 socket 370 - 775 around but didn't include them as they don't count as rare to me, but they are definitely retro and accepted in other peoples collections.

My collection has a round number of 25 with me accidentaly placing a socket 478 or whatever it is into the count in the picture which is not included in the head count of 25 (3 more in working systems 386 486 and P1 socket 7)

The majority of my collection is made up from 486 boards pci/vlb a close ratio. 2 or 3 socket 7 and 2 or 3 386/286 boards

All my boards were tested and running, some have been repaired by me. Haven't tested them in a while.

IMG-20200328-121407-2.jpg

Reply 2 of 56, by aha2940

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I am nowhere near these numbers, here are all the systems (not single motherboards) I have:

- Laptop IBM Thinkpad 360Ce (486 DX-50, 20MB RAM, 380MB HDD, DOS / Win 311)
- Desktop based around a TMC AI5TT motherboard (Pentium 233MMX, 64MB RAM, 4GB CF card HDD, voodoo 3 2000 video card, ESS1688F soundcard, DOS / Win98 dual-boot)
- Laptop IBM Thinkpad 560X (Pentium 233MHz, 96MB RAM, 4GB HDD, but currently the HDD is not working, Win 95)
- Laptop Compaq Presario 1200 (AMD K6-II 450MHz, 192 MB RAM, 20GB HDD, Win98)
- Laptop Sony VPC-W210AL (Atom CPU, 2GB RAM, 120GB HDD, WinXP)
- Desktop all-in-one Sony PCV-W200M (Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, no HDD currently)
- Desktop based around an Intel D845GEBV2 motherboard (Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 60GB HDD, nVidia GeForce 2 MX400 64MB video card, Win98/Win XP)
- Motherboard Intel D915GAV with a 3GHz Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading and 2GB RAM. Currently not in use.
- Desktop Dell Inspiron 531 (AMD Atlon 5600+ 2.8 GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Radeon HD3450 2GB video card, WinXP)
- Laptop Lenovo Thinkpad x240 (Core-i7 4600U, 8GB RAM, 1TB SDD)
- Desktop based around an ASUS Prime Z390-A (Core-i5 9600k, 16GB RAM, 256SDD+1TB HDD, Win10)

Reply 3 of 56, by Horun

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ok so I have some boards all tested and working stored in ESD bags and some in computers. Not sure if this will end up being a "brag" post so will not disclose the total other than saying have a few of each: XT, 286, 386, 486, Pentium, Slot1 and socket 478. Also have some Slot A and socket A as well as others.
Last count was .....

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 56, by Intel486dx33

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I don’t collect computer parts.
I try to good quality build period correct computers.
So i have a small amount of components.
Mainly OEM name brand computers and theme based computer builds.

Reply 5 of 56, by JoeCorrado

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treeman wrote on 2020-03-28, 03:12:

obviously we all have alot more time on our hands thesedays.

Actually, not all of us do. Many are required to continue doing what we do and there is no shelter at home option.

Love the choice of topics though- motherboards! I do quality over quantity and try to locate boxed, tested motherboards that were considered top-notch in their day. Or, even better- a motherboard that I had a positive personal experience with. I do have several "hard to find" boards, like the LuckyStart 486E that are not boxed but have been tested- before shipping and again by me, upon receipt.

My own collection is a modest group, but I am always on the lookout for an opportunity to add another. These of course do not include motherboards living inside of my completed systems- Probably add ten more for those. I would come in at about twenty or so total.

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-- Regards, Joe

Expect out of life, that which you put into it.

Reply 6 of 56, by JoeCorrado

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-03-28, 05:04:
I don’t collect computer parts. I try to good quality build period correct computers. So i have a small amount of components. Ma […]
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I don’t collect computer parts.
I try to good quality build period correct computers.
So i have a small amount of components.
Mainly OEM name brand computers and theme based computer builds.

Just think of all the money that you have saved!! 😉

-- Regards, Joe

Expect out of life, that which you put into it.

Reply 8 of 56, by PTherapist

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Including the motherboards that are inside fully built PCs (not including any Laptops or non-PC systems) -

41 working motherboards. Various types: XT, 286, 386SX, 486, Socket 5, Socket 7, Slot 1, Socket 360, Socket 478, Socket 775, Socket 1150, Socket A, Socket 754, AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+.

Plus about 5 or 6 broken motherboards that I'll probably never get around to fixing or in some cases wouldn't really want to.

Reply 9 of 56, by kixs

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I might do the same... sort and count what I have. I've already identified, tested, sorted and paired EDO/FP 72-pin memory and double paired 30-pin 256KB, 1MB and 4MB memory modules. Still have to do SDRAM and DDR SDRAM.

I have boards from 286 to s1150 - I intentionally don't have any XT era stuff 🤣

From the top of my head, on average, I probably have around 20 boards for each generation from 286 to s370 + 50 mixed already built systems + some exotics like NexGen... I also have a few boxes of "broken" boards - some might just need a few minutes to do proper jumper settings. Some might be dead for real or are missing some component.

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 11 of 56, by treeman

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wow so it looks like I am a lightweight here compared to alot of you guys. I don't think its really about bragging, personally I like to check out other people's gear especially on the show your setup or workspace thread.

I like to occasionally take out a motherboard and physically look at it and admire it. Same goes for pictures of other's collections

Reply 12 of 56, by CoffeeOne

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treeman wrote on 2020-03-28, 03:12:
obviously we all have alot more time on our hands thesedays. So today i decided to go through my prized motherboard collection. […]
Show full quote

obviously we all have alot more time on our hands thesedays. So today i decided to go through my prized motherboard collection.

I did think I had slightly more and I am curious what numbers others have and see a average from that.

For my collection I included from 286 - socket 7 as those are my favourite years I have probably 5-10 socket 370 - 775 around but didn't include them as they don't count as rare to me, but they are definitely retro and accepted in other peoples collections.

My collection has a round number of 25 with me accidentaly placing a socket 478 or whatever it is into the count in the picture which is not included in the head count of 25 (3 more in working systems 386 486 and P1 socket 7)

The majority of my collection is made up from 486 boards pci/vlb a close ratio. 2 or 3 socket 7 and 2 or 3 386/286 boards

All my boards were tested and running, some have been repaired by me. Haven't tested them in a while.

IMG-20200328-121407-2.jpg

Zero. 😁
I decided some time ago only to keep complete PCs.

Reply 13 of 56, by Baoran

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Never counted them exactly, but I would guess that I have between 25-30 motherboards and that includes the ones that inside retro PCs. I have not really considered collecting the and just kept the ones that seem somewhat interesting from retro software perspective.

Reply 14 of 56, by Miphee

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I have 226 pcs of faulty 8088-486 mainboards boxed up.
It's not really a collection, just my passion for repairing bad mainboards running wild.
I keep buying them but I don't really have the time to actually look at them. When I see a faulty mainboard for $2-5 I just have to buy it.
I only have 25 boards in working condition, most of them are in computers.
Now that the curfew is here I'm finally going to start working on them.

Reply 15 of 56, by dionb

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CoffeeOne wrote on 2020-03-28, 11:17:

[...]

Zero. 😁
I decided some time ago only to keep complete PCs.

If your PCs are complete, there are most likely motherboard in them in some form or another 😉

Here I contemplated only having a few fully fitted-out PCs, but then I started listing use cases and figured out that no way could I cover everything I might want and not completely run out of storage space. Instead I have a few builds for actually using (early/mid DOS 486SX (actually UMC U5S) 33 and late DOS K6-2 350, and a Win98SE Tualatin 1400S I somehow never get around to playing on), one expendable test system (P3 with Via 694X and ISA) for new hardware, one ongoing really old project (resurrecting an Olivetti M24 8086 system), and apart from that just boards I hook up when I feel like it. Not going to check exact numbers, but I have:

286
386SX (in a mini SFF PC)
386DX (on a huge 3-board "SBC")
486SLC (a normal one in SFF PC and an IBM SLC/2 on Alaris Leopard)
Regular 486 EISA, VLB and PCI boards
So4
A couple of So5 and 7 boards, from 5 ISA slot i430FX to P5A capable of running stable at 120MHz
Abit BP6. Because BP6. For same reason MSI MS-6168 (both also subject of running gags at another forum)
- and a pile of P4 and Athlon64 boards I keep trying to sell - or even give away, the left-over of large lots bought for some or other component.

Oh yes, and a DEC AlphaPC 164SX board that wants an unfindable DEC Alpha 21164PC CPU...

Reply 17 of 56, by imi

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idk, maybe a hundred or more? x3

...don't look at me like that, I know I'm a hoarder... I like choice (also spares for repairs).

but this thread motivated me to finally get on with taking inventory of everything.

Reply 18 of 56, by Horun

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This topic got me looking at my boards and realize only have two 286, have tried to collect three or four of each type but somehow missed one.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 19 of 56, by Deksor

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Miphee wrote on 2020-03-28, 18:40:
I have 226 pcs of faulty 8088-486 mainboards boxed up. It's not really a collection, just my passion for repairing bad mainboard […]
Show full quote

I have 226 pcs of faulty 8088-486 mainboards boxed up.
It's not really a collection, just my passion for repairing bad mainboards running wild.
I keep buying them but I don't really have the time to actually look at them. When I see a faulty mainboard for $2-5 I just have to buy it.
I only have 25 boards in working condition, most of them are in computers.
Now that the curfew is here I'm finally going to start working on them.

I know that feel.

I still have to get mine organized and work on those that I still haven't saved.

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative