So, what is currently(?) going on with the prices for the lowly i7 3770K processor ?🤔
...was just a bit surprised while randomly looking at their prices.

Sure, it is the top dog for the LGA1155 socket (and relatively pain free WinXP support), but still.... It is not that much better than say the 2700K ?
Or is it the PCIe 3.0 support that is key ?

Halo models usually have a bump from last gasp upgraders some decade or so down the line, and pricing was always 90% of the money for the first 90% of the performance and 90% of the money for the last 10% of the performance... on top 2 models of a generation so that plays in. Might be getting a little bit of crossover with "early adopter" retro geeks, by which I mean those who are enthusiastic about a tech before it's mainstream retro spotlight. However, I would expect another dip in the prices in a while before it gets on a shallow, steady upslope. It's kind of the epitome of the dead cat bounce, happens to CPU, ram generations, everything.

Well, talk about a halo! This one below surely must have reached sainthood by now!
(not to mention I actually want an RTX3090 instead of my GF6800 cards... L.OL)

Lets just wait first till the auction for RTX3090 ends 😉

No love for the 6600GT? Perhaps because of the PCIe bridge chip.

kixs wrote on 2024-03-20, 19:55:

Lets just wait first till the auction for RTX3090 ends 😉

Heh, I know I know... just found the whole 'picture' rather funny, so.... 😇
PS: though take note of the 3080 Ti Ultra 🤣, top left, at the bargain basement BiN of a mere £569

Slot A Thunderbird, 1 GHz sells for $294 USD + shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/126580511711
I remember buying one of these for under $100 about 6 years back, but it was dead, and I got my money back. I suppose the dead cartridge has some value now, especially in this new eBay era of: no-condition-specified, "sold as is, no returns."

Just came to pondering earlier how "lumpy" the graphics card pricing is as you go back along the timeline, at least as far as cards I've got go, backwards in time/performance from my best, the first 30 most recent are only maybe worth 1K eBay bux all together, then you get into a clump of DX8/9 cards, 9800, GF4ti, GF3s, so that next 10 are 1keB$, then get to a V3 heavy clump and GF DDR and getting on for only 5 or 6 to make 1keB$ then below those we're into the nothing generic tnts and 1MB PCIs so 20 or 30 of those, then get back to '94 ish and its ARK 1000PV this, Mach 64 that and VLB and maybe only 5 or 6 cards again to make 1k.... then just a bunch of ISA MDA to early VGA takes 20 of them again to make 1k worth.

I define it as eBay bux because off eBay personal collector to collector sales may be somewhat less I guess apart from extremely fine and rare examples. Though maybe for more recent cards eBay could be less inflated than some local markets.

feipoa wrote on 2024-07-28, 12:49:

Slot A Thunderbird, 1 GHz sells for $294 USD + shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/126580511711 I remember buying one of these fo […]
Show full quote

Slot A Thunderbird, 1 GHz sells for $294 USD + shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/126580511711
I remember buying one of these for under $100 about 6 years back, but it was dead, and I got my money back. I suppose the dead cartridge has some value now, especially in this new eBay era of: no-condition-specified, "sold as is, no returns."

The attachment SlotA_T-Bird_1Ghz.png is no longer available

i wonder what the new owner will do with it....

Cyrix DRx2-33/66 with factory heatsink sold for $302.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/256747720909

Are prices inching down?

On the other hand, was watching a USB to SCSI adaptor listing which sold for $150, yet there are several of these on eBay.

Threads been quiet for a bit but

If you have ever wanted to get into LGA 775 retro parts you may have missed that bus, Ive been watching the prices for some of the 775 gear I bought ~4 years ago and unless something stupid is happening the prices have taken a huge jump in the last 6-12 months.

The trash 775 parts are still cheap because well they were cheap garbage to begin with and no one really wants them but the more interesting parts are now triple what they were being listed for 6-12 months ago. Its mostly the better parts like P35/45 X38/48 and the 780i/790i and the mid to higher end CPUs that have jacked prices but even DDR3 ram seems to have risen a bit too and there is certainly no shortage of that.

Its actually interesting watching the prices go up knowing its not due to scarcity or inflation ....could it be time for Socket 775 to shine and finally be accepted as a retro setup?

feipoa wrote on 2024-12-19, 09:51:

Cyrix DRx2-33/66 with factory heatsink sold for $302. https://www.ebay.com/itm/256747720909 […]
Show full quote

Cyrix DRx2-33/66 with factory heatsink sold for $302.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/256747720909

Are prices inching down?

The attachment Cyrix_DRx2-66_with-factory_heatsink.png is no longer available

On the other hand, was watching a USB to SCSI adaptor listing which sold for $150, yet there are several of these on eBay.

They are simply not that interesting anymore, unless you are into rare NOS items for the retro museum in the closet (that the wife gives you so much heat about).
Otherwise Sxl2-66 cpu at $20 a piece, plus another - i dont know - $20 for pga132 interposer, make all the sense for both functionality, performance, and uniqueness.
I remember years ago looking for drx66 procs. Not anymore. So, you have at least one player who is not participating in that rat race. I bet there are few more like this.
Price goes down.

Logic might argue that the SXL2 PGA132-168 interposer made the DRx2-66 obsolete, however I've seen less than 5 people actually using the SXL2 interposer. An alternate conclusion might be that the generation who would have a strong interest in 386 hardware, normally the younger GenX folks, are having a declining interest in the hobby. The poster above is discussing LGA775 as hobby hardware, which is far out of my core interest. Perhaps this shift of interest is related to the DRx2 price drop more than the SXL2 interposer alternative.

feipoa wrote on 2025-01-26, 00:51:

Logic might argue that the SXL2 PGA132-168 interposer made the DRx2-66 obsolete, however I've seen less than 5 people actually using the SXL2 interposer. An alternate conclusion might be that the generation who would have a strong interest in 386 hardware, normally the younger GenX folks, are having a declining interest in the hobby. The poster above is discussing LGA775 as hobby hardware, which is far out of my core interest. Perhaps this shift of interest is related to the DRx2 price drop more than the SXL2 interposer alternative.

I'm not the only one who has noticed that things are shifting, but that's expected since retro hardware is the same as fashion and music really, different generations will see different gear as being retro right now 775 stuff is moving into that place.

As for the older 286/386/486 era stuff .. I dont consider that stuff retro .. its clearly becoming vintage museum stuff now and while I have a lot of parts from that period I find it to be a hassle to work with. My memory isn't what it used to be and trying to remember stuff from the 80s is getting more and more difficult not to mention keeping that hardware going is also becoming harder and more expensive. (I simply dont have the time to trouble shoot and repair blown tantrum caps or fix corroded traces anymore, even though I really want to)

Accessibility and Cost are likely driving people away from it, its expensive for new people to join the hobby and unless they have a large interest in 80s/90s hardware that expense is a big deterrent.

All that said, 775 stuff is pretty fun to mess with, sure its no smoking hot 386DX-40, DX4-100 or a classic XT but it is mostly cheap and accessible right now and that makes it attracting to new people joining the hobby.

A final though, never forget that we are now closer to 2050 than we are to 1980, 1980 was 45 years ago, and this is why things are shifting.

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-01-26, 01:38:

My memory isn't what it used to be and trying to remember stuff from the 80s is getting more and more difficult...

Speaking of that - a few months ago I pulled out my NES cartridges from the 80's and let my kids play the Legend of Zelda. I was amazed at how I could recall where all the hidden treasures were. Sometimes, it came to me right away, others, it took a few days as the haze in my mind began to clear.

feipoa wrote on 2025-01-26, 02:06:

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-01-26, 01:38:

My memory isn't what it used to be and trying to remember stuff from the 80s is getting more and more difficult...

Speaking of that - a few months ago I pulled out my NES cartridges from the 80's and let my kids play the Legend of Zelda. I was amazed at how I could recall where all the hidden treasures were. Sometimes, it came to me right away, others, it took a few days as the haze in my mind began to clear.

Pictures and sounds really do help in jogging the neurons ! and getting the memories flowing.

I find its the more obscure stuff that I have real issues with, like stepping back into batch files and trying to remember command switches for DOS programs.

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-01-26, 01:38:

...repair blown tantrum caps ...

Now THAT is spot on! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

After looking at old individual parts recently on e-bay the thing I find hillarious is that you can still get a stack of e-waste computers with now-expensive parts for relatively little.

Although I guess you're not looking to sort out machinery if you're parts shopping on e-bay. Still, for those prices, I'd expect more supply to come online. It's not like production on some of this stuf wasn't in the gajillions.

Inhibit wrote on 2025-01-26, 22:58:

After looking at old individual parts recently on e-bay the thing I find hillarious is that you can still get a stack of e-waste computers with now-expensive parts for relatively little.

Although I guess you're not looking to sort out machinery if you're parts shopping on e-bay. Still, for those prices, I'd expect more supply to come online. It's not like production on some of this stuf wasn't in the gajillions.

I mean I can understand entire boxes being cheaper as very few want to bother with stripping them for parts and then having to part it all out of Evilbay. Its a lot of work that in the end unless its something special doesn't net a huge return.

Inhibit wrote on 2025-01-26, 22:58:

After looking at old individual parts recently on e-bay the thing I find hillarious is that you can still get a stack of e-waste computers with now-expensive parts for relatively little.

Although I guess you're not looking to sort out machinery if you're parts shopping on e-bay. Still, for those prices, I'd expect more supply to come online. It's not like production on some of this stuf wasn't in the gajillions.

E-waste these days is mostly just older office machines with no discrete GPU or sound card and the HD removed. The days of 386 to P3 machines at recyclers was a while ago, but a few will still creep in there.

You can part out a AT class system for more than it costs to buy complete if you want to spend the time and effort in doing so (what is your time worth and how long do you want to spend selling each individual piece). I have been watching YouTube videos on people flipping more modern gaming machines and I don't see where the profit is coming from other then doing it as a hobby that allows you to keep some items.

I do miss having a local recycler that let me crawl around their incoming stuff, but I am out of space these days anyway.