Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone up since the China virus/Covid has been out.
Had things in my ebay history/watch list that in the last year doubled or more in price. I know others have mentioned this huge price increase but was amazed that even a simple ISA IDE controller card more than doubled in a year.
The asking prices are ridiculous and looking at sold prices they are too. Am just rambling but am ashamed at the sellers in USA that they are raising prices far above those in Europe for no reason other than greed...
Ok rant over...

Horun wrote on 2021-03-08, 05:44:

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone […]
Show full quote

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone up since the China virus/Covid has been out.
Had things in my ebay history/watch list that in the last year doubled or more in price. I know others have mentioned this huge price increase but was amazed that even a simple ISA IDE controller card more than doubled in a year.
The asking prices are ridiculous and looking at sold prices they are too. Am just rambling but am ashamed at the sellers in USA that they are raising prices far above those in Europe for no reason other than greed...
Ok rant over...

Yeah, the prices are kinda crazy. That being said, as a seller, it would be stupid financially speaking, to list stuff at a much lower price than people have been buying parts for.

As for me specifically, unless I am selling parts that are brand new, I test them before listing unless I am selling them as-is. Sometimes that testing is no small feat and if I have tested items that take a while to test, I am going to list them for higher prices than if they weren't actually tested. Not like my time isn't worth anything.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-03-08, 06:26:

Horun wrote on 2021-03-08, 05:44:

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone […]
Show full quote

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone up since the China virus/Covid has been out.
Had things in my ebay history/watch list that in the last year doubled or more in price. I know others have mentioned this huge price increase but was amazed that even a simple ISA IDE controller card more than doubled in a year.
The asking prices are ridiculous and looking at sold prices they are too. Am just rambling but am ashamed at the sellers in USA that they are raising prices far above those in Europe for no reason other than greed...
Ok rant over...

Yeah, the prices are kinda crazy. That being said, as a seller, it would be stupid financially speaking, to list stuff at a much lower price than people have been buying parts for.

As for me specifically, unless I am selling parts that are brand new, I test them before listing unless I am selling them as-is. Sometimes that testing is no small feat and if I have tested items that take a while to test, I am going to list them for higher prices than if they weren't actually tested. Not like my time isn't worth anything.

This is almost exactly what I was going to post.

In my particular situation I would also add that I live in an economically depressed area... and it was like that long before COVID19. I do landscaping work in the summer, but the vintage PC craze and the apparently massive disposable income of retro PC enthusiasts has helped me to support my family using the knowledge I've spent over 25 years acquiring (since I started learning about PCs as a pre-teen), which would otherwise be worth nothing in the cloud-based-everything smartphone era. At the same time I have been teaching myself electronics repair, allowing people to enjoy old hardware that was destined for scrap and I've been hopefully able to contribute something of value to this community with all these posts (yikes... almost 1900 now??). If I didn't continue selling about 1% of the old hardware I acquire, there's no way I'd be able to spend this much time involved in it. To arbitrarily charge less for it, despite the time I put in, wouldn't make financial sense.

People can buy a cheap Geforce 2/4 MX and an SB Live to plunk into any old PC they find on the curb\classifieds if they want to play old games that don't run in DOSBox. To spend 20 times as much buying highly specific (and increasingly rare) hardware isn't honestly going to change the experience much in most cases. The most common and least valuable items can actually do the same job as well or better than the rare stuff 90% of the time. It's really no different than collecting rare coins, glassware, cars, etc. To go without is hardly to be deprived of a basic need. Putting in the time and legwork to track down rare stuff cheaply is the alternative to spending the going-rate on it.

Horun wrote on 2021-03-08, 05:44:

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone […]
Show full quote

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone up since the China virus/Covid has been out.
Had things in my ebay history/watch list that in the last year doubled or more in price. I know others have mentioned this huge price increase but was amazed that even a simple ISA IDE controller card more than doubled in a year.
The asking prices are ridiculous and looking at sold prices they are too. Am just rambling but am ashamed at the sellers in USA that they are raising prices far above those in Europe for no reason other than greed...
Ok rant over...

On the positive side, rising prices do provide a marketplace for makers, rethinking or inventing modern solutions for our "old" systems. Dozens of projects prove there is a market and there are needs to be met. After all, it's not only about collecting items but also about bringing those past-day "dream" machines of ours to life with usability.

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-08, 07:32:

Horun wrote on 2021-03-08, 05:44:

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone […]
Show full quote

Ok did not buy anything but was searching thru Ebay, Craigs, etc and was amazed at how much some older computer parts have gone up since the China virus/Covid has been out.
Had things in my ebay history/watch list that in the last year doubled or more in price. I know others have mentioned this huge price increase but was amazed that even a simple ISA IDE controller card more than doubled in a year.
The asking prices are ridiculous and looking at sold prices they are too. Am just rambling but am ashamed at the sellers in USA that they are raising prices far above those in Europe for no reason other than greed...
Ok rant over...

On the positive side, rising prices do provide a marketplace for makers, rethinking or inventing modern solutions for our "old" systems. Dozens of projects prove there is a market and there are needs to be met. After all, it's not only about collecting items but also about bringing those past-day "dream" machines of ours to life with usability.

Excellent point.

These projects are a much better way to preserve the experience of running old games with obscure hardware configurations. As the components on old hardware wear out and more casual retro gamers either throw them away, scrap them or botch repair jobs and ruin them, the number of intact\functional originals for the collectors or those who truly feel nostalgic about the original hardware is going to decline even further. Having modern equivalents available will ensure that the experience can stay alive for those that absolutely must know what it's like to use weird hardware (rather than emulation), and they'll be able to reliably do so for decades without having to worry about age related problems with the originals (bad caps, physical damage, worn out plugs and connectors, bad solder joints, etc).

Grabbed these for 45 euro (54$) + 6$ shipping

• Abit BE6 https://soggi.org/motherboards/abit/BE6.htm
• QDI Advance 2 (Apollo VP3) http://www.motherboard.cz/mb/qdi/Advance%202.htm
• Creative Blaster Annihilator Pro DDR (Geforce 256 DDR) https://www.anandtech.com/show/489/2
• AA370ts "Slotket" adaptor https://pcrebuilding.altervista.org/93/206/CO … TS+VER+1.0.html
• Pentium III Katmai 550
• Pentium 100
• Pentium II 333

Unfortunetly, QDI Advance 2 doesn't work.

W.x. wrote on 2021-03-08, 12:00:

Grabbed these for 45 euro (54$) + 6$ shipping […]
Show full quote

Grabbed these for 45 euro (54$) + 6$ shipping

• Abit BE6 https://soggi.org/motherboards/abit/BE6.htm
• QDI Advance 2 (Apollo VP3) http://www.motherboard.cz/mb/qdi/Advance%202.htm
• Creative Blaster Annihilator Pro DDR (Geforce 256 DDR) https://www.anandtech.com/show/489/2
• AA370ts "Slotket" adaptor https://pcrebuilding.altervista.org/93/206/CO … TS+VER+1.0.html
• Pentium III Katmai 550
• Pentium 100
• Pentium II 333

Unfortunetly, QDI Advance 2 doesn't work.

Who says the prices are high? 🤣

kixs wrote on 2021-03-08, 12:10:

Who says the prices are high? 🤣

Well, when you compare our salaries here , most people have around 600 euro, and when you compare Germany, UK, USA, where they have often 3000$, 5000$ and even more, it's like for 5x more for us. So basicaly, it costed me so much as 250-300$ for most americans, when you count also salaries into account 😀

Thats why they selling it here for so low, cause for 100$ or 200$, noone would buy it here. We simply don't have so much money to spare for silly hobbies. I would say, maximum, what would someone take it here is 100$. Otherwise, it would cycle in advertising pages for months, maybe even for years. Most of motherboards here have problem to sell for 25$, including Slot 1 BX ones. Just last month, one MSI BX Master was for 40$ , noone take it for week. When it dropped to 30$, only one bidder took it. So no other bidder even tried. I grabbed that Abit BE6 for around 15$.

W.x. wrote on 2021-03-08, 12:23:

Well, when you compare our salaries here , most people have around 600 euro, and when you compare Germany, UK, USA, where they have often 3000$, 5000$ and even more, it's like for 5x more for us.

Ain't that the truth!
That's why it's pointless to compare german/american and hungarian prices. A slot1 P2 might cost me $7 but my monthly salary is $500.

I take average price on eBay as a baseline. Of course not everyone is from a rich country - me included 🤣

It would be good if everyone that talks about cost or prices to include where he is from - or to put it in the profile.

kixs wrote on 2021-03-08, 13:16:

I take average price on eBay as a baseline. Of course not everyone is from a rich country - me included 🤣

It would be good if everyone that talks about cost or prices to include where he is from - or to put it in the profile.

Great ya. From what I seen if you live in Poland or in some post soviet state or 3rd world country old hardware is plentiful. Because they were still running it long after obsolescence and they don't throw stuff away.

If you live in America you toss shit in the trash, and then replace it with some junk from china and get $1400 dollar checks from the resident sleeper.

Today I received a couple of goodies that I managed to find on Ebay.

The first, a gorgeous Yamaha CX5M computer @ the low price of 86€, a good price for any MSX but incredible for this somewhat rare model . The computer is a bit dirty, and is missing the synth, but no worries, I do have a SFG-01 and a SFG-05 as spares and a bit of elbow grease will put it to shine.

Also, the PSU, a rather illusive one. Probably the most difficult part to find for this machine, and the din 13 connector that it uses is pure evil (had to make a psu for my YIS-503 and it was a pain in the neck).

At last a mother board for a Schneider Euro Pc (mk1). The idea was to sacrifice it to scavenge parts, namely the "JIM" IC, but I'm having second thoughts. The Varta did light damage and bedsides dirt is seems a promising Motherboard. So, guess my hunt for a JIM continues on.

Arrived today LGA775 CPU, it is a Pentium E6700 SLGUF, 3.20GHz / 2M / 1066.
Purchased for a PC with MB ECS P4M890T-M2, there is currently a Core2 DUO 4400, which I slightly overclock by raising the frequency from 200 to 230.
On the same MB I had tried another similar CPU a Core2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz / 4M / 1066, unfortunately it did not boot, I don't know if it depends on the BIOS or other.

Hello friends, happy to finally got one of my beloved graphics card I had back then which seems to become rare (searched a few weeks for s good offer). It's the Radeon 9500 Pro! It was a very powerful card for fair money back then, and of course I did made it a 9700 somehow. I can't remember exactly but I think it was due to a special driver, no hardware modification. I cleaned everything up and spend some memory heatsinks on it. The gpu die is marked as ATI R300. Card is working fine and will become my daily driver in the Athlon XP setup.

Bought an uncommon new old stock Socket 5 board with UMC chipset.

Tandy / Pine / US Logic PT-730A

Todays haul. A Diamond Monster sound card MX300 A3D (Aureal Vortex AU8830A2). A wonderful sound card with an interesting hand made packaging (cut to fit). Someone put some effort into packing it pretty good.

Some generic DB15 to DB15+MIDI cables…

Found and bought this dirty thing 😀 IBM PS/2 Model 30 002. Having fun cleaning and setting it up 😁

These Commodore64 Model-C case-badges are so gorgeous. I just had to buy a couple for my SixtyClone project..... (yes, it is eBay links)

Rainbow inspired
Gold version

Only question is. What will I choose for my SixtyClone? 😀

debs3759 wrote on 2021-03-07, 21:55:

Just bought this ATI WinCharger 1MB 113-32100-105 (I think it's the first revision) for £8.20 shipped. Didn't expect to win it for the opening bid 😀 Seller's pic

Oh well, it woulda been nice. Seller just refunded me, saying he got it out of storage on Saturday (so how had he photographed it?) and has since lost it 🙁

I'm now bidding on a later revision. Bit more expensive, but hey ho.

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-09, 06:39:

Some generic DB15 to DB15+MIDI cables…
DB15-to-DB15-and-MIDI.jpg

I've got fooled by these fancy cables before, they have no opto-isolators or any other components inside 😒

connectors are decent though, so you can modify them.