schmatzler wrote on 2020-08-17, 19:15:

The tower has arrived now and it's a goldmine. The case is absolute bonkers - there are five 5,25" drive bays and six 2,5" drive […]
Show full quote

schmatzler wrote on 2020-08-11, 20:06:

I always wanted to have an ATX Big Tower that looks cool and has plenty of room for ventilation and extensions.

The tower has arrived now and it's a goldmine.
The case is absolute bonkers - there are five 5,25" drive bays and six 2,5" drive bays in there (if you don't count the "fan bay" that blocks some of them if you use it).
The motherboard can slide out after removing two screws - very handy.

It's so heavy! I almost fell down the stairs when I moved that thing up to my room. 😁
It's much bigger than my old one:
IMG_20200817_190211_284.jpg

There's a 5,25 inch "fan bay" that also includes the vents for the front panel. This was not screwed in, so it jumped around during shipping and the faceplate broke off.
I'm confident this can be easily fixed with some glue, though:
IMG_20200817_192952.jpg

Apart from that, the case is intact - and that makes me SO happy. 😍
The board inside is an Asus P2B-S Rev1.03 with on-board SCSI ports. I've never owned any SCSI hardware, this will be a great opportunity to explore that technology.

The included Slot1 CPU is a Pentium 3 500MHz (SL35E). The cooler is interesting, I've never seen one like it (only those plastic ones that are hard to disassemble).
IMG_20200817_194159.jpg

It's got some nice cards, too!
- ATI Rage Pro Turbo AGP (silkscreen says 2MB?) with a retainer that clamps onto the AGP slot.
I don't know why such a small cards needs that clamp - maybe to prevent it from falling out of the slot when the case is moved?
- A basic 3com 3c905 network card. Already have one of those, they're compatible with everything - can't hurt to have two.
- A SCSI controller card. Not sure why they haven't used the onboard SCSI, but oh well. More cards are nice.
IMG_20200817_193037.jpg

Paired with that, there's some more hardware:
- A "Power Man" power supply that seems to have suffered a little bit of liquid damage at some point.
I don't trust this thing at all and I won't be using it - I wouldn't even use that without liquid damage.
- ALPS floppy drive
- HP C1537 SCSI tape drive (DDS-3 DAT)
- Teac CD-532S SCSI CDROM drive
- 128MB RAM
IMG_20200817_193126.jpg

All of that for 10€ +shipping - I think that's been a really, really good deal.

That case is awesome and what a steal of a deal as well.

you really make me regret not bidding on it 😁 have fun, the in-win is awesome glad it survived.

Soyo SY-7VCA. A decent-ish s370 board with overclocking options like Vcore, multi, mem timings etc.


Uses a VIA Apollo Pro133A.

Also got this Abit AW9D-MAX (Not quite retro but not quite modern either).

It has this chip (Abit μGuru) which has some interesting features.
Probably commonplace in enterprise stuff, regardless if it is to be trusted, it appears that this board has seen light use.

I just got a haul in today. A friend of mine got them and gave them to me.....FOR FREE!!! I have not had time to check them out but I am super excited to see if they work at all. They are a 386, 2-PentiumII, something that I dont know yet but it has a turbo button, and 2-Pentium III. On and a core 2 dell. The best part of this is that I have been wanting a 386 for a while for old dos games. I really hope they work cause I have never worked on any this old. Anyway, I would like to hear any comments or thoughts on this. Also, any tips or hints would be greatly accepted. Oh and I havent had the cases even opened yet. I just got home with them. I look forward to hearing y'alls thoughts.

Check barrel batteries first thing... Even before trying to power on.

Mephusto wrote on 2020-08-17, 21:40:

I just got a haul in today. A friend of mine got them and gave them to me.....FOR FREE!!! I have not had time to check them out but I am super excited to see if they work at all. They are a 386, 2-PentiumII, something that I dont know yet but it has a turbo button, and 2-Pentium III. On and a core 2 dell. The best part of this is that I have been wanting a 386 for a while for old dos games. I really hope they work cause I have never worked on any this old. Anyway, I would like to hear any comments or thoughts on this. Also, any tips or hints would be greatly accepted. Oh and I havent had the cases even opened yet. I just got home with them. I look forward to hearing y'alls thoughts.

DANG! Literally - what a HAUL. Congrats!

My tip - for case #5 from the left, 12% hydrogen peroxide submersion under 2 x 100W UV lights. 😀
What retro activity did you get up to today?

cyclone3d - Yes batteries first thing, I have no first hand experience with the barrel batteries, but I have seen some videos changing them out with CR2032 batteries. I also know to check bulging caps! I have made that mistake before. It did not smell good. My poor commodore 1802, may she rest in peace. 🙁

Artex - Thank you! He said he has some pentium 4s but Im not 100% sure if ill get them or not. As for case #5, I was definitely thinking of retrobrite for it, but I haven't done it before.

So far the only one that I have opened is #4 from the left......and I am completely lost on it. I cant find the cpu, and it has these tiny little ram sticks that I have never seen before. I can get a picture if you all would like to see it? I am very hopefull that they will work.

some recent pickups :3

a good amount of Yamaha ICs... Yamaha "Factory" DS2416 and SW1000XG
this got cobbled together by seperate purchases as is apparent by the vastly different condition the cards are in ^^ but it includes all necessary cables and even the AX44 drive bay I/O
(also got the MIDI I/O cable for the SW1000XG but forgot to throw it in for the picture)

Octek Tempo-32 with OPL3 and QDSP wavetable
BTC ES1868F with ES938J and ESS wavetable
and another ESS ES1869F with ESS wavetable

Terratec Gold 16/96 with ES1868F
Sound Galaxy Nova 16 Extra II with OPL3

can never have enough YMF cards... ^^

CT2910 SB16 with the tiny OPL3
AWE64 and a CT2770 with CT1747, interestingly no "OPL" printed on the chip, but pretty sure it's in there.

Mephusto wrote on 2020-08-17, 21:40:

I just got a haul in today. A friend of mine got them and gave them to me.....FOR FREE!!! I have not had time to check them out but I am super excited to see if they work at all. They are a 386, 2-PentiumII, something that I dont know yet but it has a turbo button, and 2-Pentium III. On and a core 2 dell. The best part of this is that I have been wanting a 386 for a while for old dos games. I really hope they work cause I have never worked on any this old. Anyway, I would like to hear any comments or thoughts on this. Also, any tips or hints would be greatly accepted. Oh and I havent had the cases even opened yet. I just got home with them. I look forward to hearing y'alls thoughts.

Wow!!! That is a great haul I really hope everything works and no battery damage.

imi wrote on 2020-08-17, 23:28:

some recent pickups :3 […]
Show full quote

some recent pickups :3

a good amount of Yamaha ICs... Yamaha "Factory" DS2416 and SW1000XG
this got cobbled together by seperate purchases as is apparent by the vastly different condition the cards are in ^^ but it includes all necessary cables and even the AX44 drive bay I/O
(also got the MIDI I/O cable for the SW1000XG but forgot to throw it in for the picture)
hardware39_43.jpg

Octek Tempo-32 with OPL3 and QDSP wavetable
BTC ES1868F with ES938J and ESS wavetable
and another ESS ES1869F with ESS wavetable
hardware39_44.jpg

Terratec Gold 16/96 with ES1868F
Sound Galaxy Nova 16 Extra II with OPL3
hardware39_45.jpg

can never have enough YMF cards... ^^
hardware39_46.jpg

CT2910 SB16 with the tiny OPL3
AWE64 and a CT2770 with CT1747, interestingly no "OPL" printed on the chip, but pretty sure it's in there.
hardware39_47.jpg

WOWZA! Lots of good pickups across the board lately for VOGONS!

Yeah I agree! We been some lucky people. Imi, nice haul. 👍🏻

That 386 looks almost the same as mine! If there's no obvious ceramic PGA that says "386" on it, it might be a 386SX or AMD 386 with a surface mounted plastic CPU.

thank you ^^... but wait, there's more!
to complement the sound cards some video cards...

Creative CT6670 Voodoo2 12MB
It's no Quantum3D, but eh ^^ I think with this one I now have another set of two identical cards for a second SLI setup :3
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP with 5.5ns RAM and TV out

Prisma VGART 800 with WD90C00 JK
OTI037C 8-bit ISA VGA
CL-GD610/620 8-bit ISA card for an LCD with VGA and EGA?

Tseng ET3000AX
ATi VGA Wonder

OTI037C, Trident TVGA9000B
WD90C30-LR and a nice low profile ET4000AX

Mephusto wrote on 2020-08-17, 21:40:

The best part of this is that I have been wanting a 386 for a while for old dos games.

that's a perfect big tower for a nice 386 build :3

imi wrote on 2020-08-17, 23:28:

some recent pickups :3 […]
Show full quote

some recent pickups :3

a good amount of Yamaha ICs... Yamaha "Factory" DS2416 and SW1000XG
this got cobbled together by seperate purchases as is apparent by the vastly different condition the cards are in ^^ but it includes all necessary cables and even the AX44 drive bay I/O
(also got the MIDI I/O cable for the SW1000XG but forgot to throw it in for the picture)
hardware39_43.jpg

Cool! I have 2 SW1000XG cards, one with everything.

I have a 3rd on the way now as it had the PLG100-DX card installed on it.. and for way cheaper than the PLG100-DX cards usually go for. Been wanting one of those DX addon cards for quite a while. Only other addon card I want is the analog one. I might spring for a DS2416 card at some point.

Artex wrote on 2020-08-16, 23:36:

It's been an absolutely insane few weeks. I'll leave this here for now.. more to come. :) […]
Show full quote

It's been an absolutely insane few weeks. I'll leave this here for now.. more to come. 😀

You trying to sell any of those? haha

Mephusto wrote on 2020-08-17, 23:03:

So far the only one that I have opened is #4 from the left......and I am completely lost on it. I cant find the cpu, and it has these tiny little ram sticks that I have never seen before. I can get a picture if you all would like to see it?

Do you really need to ask? 😆

PS: The tiny little ram sticks are either 30 pin or 72 pin SIMMs I bet.

Mephusto wrote on 2020-08-17, 23:03:

So far the only one that I have opened is #4 from the left......and I am completely lost on it. I cant find the cpu, and it has these tiny little ram sticks that I have never seen before. I can get a picture if you all would like to see it? I am very hopefull that they will work.

I'd bet on the memory being 30-pin simms. A photo would help us identify the CPU, which is most likely to be a 386 or early 486, based on the 5.25 and 3.5 floppy drives and lack of CD.

Mephusto wrote on 2020-08-17, 21:40:

I just got a haul in today. A friend of mine got them and gave them to me.....FOR FREE!!! I have not had time to check them out but I am super excited to see if they work at all. They are a 386, 2-PentiumII, something that I dont know yet but it has a turbo button, and 2-Pentium III. On and a core 2 dell. The best part of this is that I have been wanting a 386 for a while for old dos games. I really hope they work cause I have never worked on any this old. Anyway, I would like to hear any comments or thoughts on this. Also, any tips or hints would be greatly accepted. Oh and I havent had the cases even opened yet. I just got home with them. I look forward to hearing y'alls thoughts.

Oh boy. Awesome. Fun times incoming!

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-08-18, 00:06:

I have a 3rd on the way now as it had the PLG100-DX card installed on it.. and for way cheaper than the PLG100-DX cards usually go for. Been wanting one of those DX addon cards for quite a while. Only other addon card I want is the analog one. I might spring for a DS2416 card at some point.

I'd love to have the add on board too, but I'm happy already that I even got ahold of this lot with the AX44 no less ^^

Thanks Imi! I love those cards you have. I have 1 creative voodoo2 that I always keep an eye out for a match to sli 🤣. And I took pictures of that unkown pc for you all to check out 😀 I think I got decent pics. I saw nothing with AMD or intel on it. Only 1 chip has a heatsink and I am scared to remove it. Anyway, without further ado, the pictures! Oh and the little screen at the bottom still has the plastic cover!!!😁