imi wrote on 2020-05-30, 21:45:

got this nice package from the bay […]
Show full quote

got this nice package from the bay

míro DC30 and a Terratec Profimedia that is in nicer condition than the one I already had
also two nice MS DOS dome stickers and one of those DS12887 replacements from the same seller :3
hardware38_69.jpg

oh yeah, and this Soyo SY-P4 I845PE ISA, P4 ISA board, one of the ISA slots is a bit crushed but I hope it's fine otherwise.
hardware38_70.jpg

What is that terratec card like? I saw one on eBay but it too expensive but I was curious how good it was.

Belkin Omni View SE 4-Port

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpbbA1DNelg

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2020-05-30, 22:02:

Watch those silver caps on the Soyo - I had the same ones on my Soyo KT333 Platinum Dragon board and every single one of them upchucked 🙁

yeah, replacing them is on my list ^^ I also think one of them might be damaged anyways as a lead got partially pulled out.

kolderman wrote on 2020-05-30, 22:07:

What is that terratec card like? I saw one on eBay but it too expensive but I was curious how good it was.

just a decent OPL3 card, would not pay too much for it though ^^

I ordered a Sparkle Geforce FX 5900XT . I wanted a spare for my FX 5900 . I got one before prices shot up .

I initially thought of getting a Quadro FX 3000, but the last one I got was DOA and current prices are higher than what I'm willing to pay .

EDIT: I ordered a second FX 5900XT . I should be fully stocked now

I ordered both from Eastern Europe .

How are Sparkle and Gainward video cards quality-wise (capacitors, board designs, etc ) ?

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 02:34:

How are Sparkle and Gainward video cards quality-wise (capacitors, board designs, etc ) ?

I have two Gainward 5950U AGP cards and both are still original parts and going strong. GPU fans needed a lube once to bring the noise levels down and that's about it.

Sparkle was a low cost board of presumably questionable quality. But even the big names tended to focus more on performance than quality - none of them gave a shit if the cards still worked 20 years later.

liqmat wrote on 2020-05-31, 02:55:

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 02:34:

How are Sparkle and Gainward video cards quality-wise (capacitors, board designs, etc ) ?

I have two Gainward 5950U AGP cards and both are still original parts and going strong. GPU fans needed a lube once to bring the noise levels down and that's about it.

Agree ! All my old Gainwards still work, from ISA thru AGP. Always thought their clown logo was a bit odd ;p

Horun wrote on 2020-05-31, 03:45:

liqmat wrote on 2020-05-31, 02:55:

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 02:34:

How are Sparkle and Gainward video cards quality-wise (capacitors, board designs, etc ) ?

I have two Gainward 5950U AGP cards and both are still original parts and going strong. GPU fans needed a lube once to bring the noise levels down and that's about it.

Agree ! All my old Gainwards still work, from ISA thru AGP. Always thought their clown logo was a bit odd ;p

Thanks for the comments . Gainward and Sparkle weren't too popular in my neck of the woods, so I don't think I've ever had one of their video products .

texterted wrote on 2020-03-18, 18:14:

Today's project. […]
Show full quote

Today's project.

A Radeon 9500 vanilla. It has the L shaped memory chip arrangement on the card.
These can, often times, be soft-modded with the Omega drivers, into a full fat 9700 with all the pipelines unlocked.
This was a success with this card and of course, I removed the stock cooler and that bloody die shim! I had to soak that yellow thermal cement they used in WD40 for quite a while before I could remove the shite. WTF?

Anyway, stuck on one of those cheap Chinesium vga coolers on there. They work a treat and are inexpensive. A vast improvement over stock. I'll stick some ram-sinks on if postie ever brings them.

9500_fan.jpg

pipes.jpg

Thanks for the WD40 suggestion. I previously tried isopropyl alcohol and lighter fluid unsuccessfully . As for those fans, do you have model or description I could use to find one similar to yours or did you just go by the distance between retention clips ?

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 04:04:

Horun wrote on 2020-05-31, 03:45:

liqmat wrote on 2020-05-31, 02:55:

I have two Gainward 5950U AGP cards and both are still original parts and going strong. GPU fans needed a lube once to bring the noise levels down and that's about it.

Agree ! All my old Gainwards still work, from ISA thru AGP. Always thought their clown logo was a bit odd ;p

Thanks for the comments . Gainward and Sparkle weren't too popular in my neck of the woods, so I don't think I've ever had one of their video products .

Many early retail Gainward video cards were sold under the "Cardex" name unless OEM'd but still would have either Cardex or Gainward bios stickers. Just an FYI.

Horun wrote on 2020-05-31, 05:06:

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 04:04:

Horun wrote on 2020-05-31, 03:45:

Agree ! All my old Gainwards still work, from ISA thru AGP. Always thought their clown logo was a bit odd ;p

Thanks for the comments . Gainward and Sparkle weren't too popular in my neck of the woods, so I don't think I've ever had one of their video products .

Many early retail Gainward video cards were sold under the "Cardex" name unless OEM'd but still would have either Cardex or Gainward bios stickers. Just an FYI.

Cardex rings a bell . I have a distant memory of having once owned either an S3 Trio 64V+ or a Virge 325 with Cardex branding on the BIOS chip, back when this was current tech . To be clear, I've definitely owned the cards, I just don't remember which was Cardex branded .

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 05:15:

Horun wrote on 2020-05-31, 05:06:

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 04:04:

Thanks for the comments . Gainward and Sparkle weren't too popular in my neck of the woods, so I don't think I've ever had one of their video products .

Many early retail Gainward video cards were sold under the "Cardex" name unless OEM'd but still would have either Cardex or Gainward bios stickers. Just an FYI.

Cardex rings a bell . I have a distant memory of having once owned either an S3 Trio 64V+ or a Virge 325 with Cardex branding on the BIOS chip, back when this was current tech . To be clear, I've definitely owned the cards, I just don't remember which was Cardex branded .

Yes other than on their old websites Gainward did not advertise much that they were Cardex back in the early 90's. Proof is in the pic and links. Something to consider if you see an old ISA or VLB VGA Cardex card, nearly 100% guarenteed to work as they were a good company and did care about quality.
Picture is an old VLB video card box and card I have that still work great !
http://web.archive.org/web/19980110142523/htt … //gainward.com/

added: I still do not get the clowns as a logo

AFAIK they're not clowns but chinese opera masks. I assume Cardex was a chinese company?

imi wrote on 2020-05-30, 21:45:

got this nice package from the bay […]
Show full quote

got this nice package from the bay

míro DC30 and a Terratec Profimedia that is in nicer condition than the one I already had
also two nice MS DOS dome stickers and one of those DS12887 replacements from the same seller :3
hardware38_69.jpg

oh yeah, and this Soyo SY-P4 I845PE ISA, P4 ISA board, one of the ISA slots is a bit crushed but I hope it's fine otherwise.
hardware38_70.jpg

I need one of those cards in my Terratec collection 🙁

Early Diamond Stealth ISA with S3 924 and VRAM.

Put it to basket on eBay when it was £50. Forgot to check it out and eventually got £20! offer from seller which I gladly accepted.

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 04:12:

texterted wrote on 2020-03-18, 18:14:

Today's project. […]
Show full quote

Today's project.

A Radeon 9500 vanilla. It has the L shaped memory chip arrangement on the card.
These can, often times, be soft-modded with the Omega drivers, into a full fat 9700 with all the pipelines unlocked.
This was a success with this card and of course, I removed the stock cooler and that bloody die shim! I had to soak that yellow thermal cement they used in WD40 for quite a while before I could remove the shite. WTF?

Anyway, stuck on one of those cheap Chinesium vga coolers on there. They work a treat and are inexpensive. A vast improvement over stock. I'll stick some ram-sinks on if postie ever brings them.

9500_fan.jpg

pipes.jpg

Thanks for the WD40 suggestion. I previously tried isopropyl alcohol and lighter fluid unsuccessfully . As for those fans, do you have model or description I could use to find one similar to yours or did you just go by the distance between retention clips ?

The fans are pretty much universal for that era of VGA card. Search for "Coral VGA cooler" on the 'bay.

I soaked a piece of kitchen paper towel in the good old WD40, pressed on with a small weight. It was still difficult to remove but I didn't have to resort to a hammer and chisel.

Good luck!

Just have bought some nice stuff:
- unknown isa processor board, with CPU and without ram. Looks like it might be socket 3, but it's totally unknown
- Some kind of ISA graphics card with early tuner (or something that looks like a tuner), connected by the feature connector
- some fairly late 486 computer, PCI and ISA with PCI graphics card, CDROM, 3,5+5,25 fdd and Lan card. Has two controllers for eeprom programmers plus the two 2 matching programming units!
The hard disk had literally drilled some holes in it due to confidential data 🙁 system has an empty barrel battery but according to the seller it had not been leaking and damaging tracks. About CPU and 72p ram: all unknown.
- HP CDROM tower with 7 SCSI units, on photos the power button was missing, have to make a new one. Untested, but it is a piece of history most companies have just tossed over time.

Next Monday I'm gonna correct them and make some more pictures. I have no use for these but hey, it's Retro and I like surprises!

texterted wrote on 2020-05-31, 10:40:

The fans are pretty much universal for that era of VGA card. Search for "Coral VGA cooler" on the 'bay. […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2020-05-31, 04:12:

texterted wrote on 2020-03-18, 18:14:

Today's project. […]
Show full quote

Today's project.

A Radeon 9500 vanilla. It has the L shaped memory chip arrangement on the card.
These can, often times, be soft-modded with the Omega drivers, into a full fat 9700 with all the pipelines unlocked.
This was a success with this card and of course, I removed the stock cooler and that bloody die shim! I had to soak that yellow thermal cement they used in WD40 for quite a while before I could remove the shite. WTF?

Anyway, stuck on one of those cheap Chinesium vga coolers on there. They work a treat and are inexpensive. A vast improvement over stock. I'll stick some ram-sinks on if postie ever brings them.

9500_fan.jpg

pipes.jpg

Thanks for the WD40 suggestion. I previously tried isopropyl alcohol and lighter fluid unsuccessfully . As for those fans, do you have model or description I could use to find one similar to yours or did you just go by the distance between retention clips ?

The fans are pretty much universal for that era of VGA card. Search for "Coral VGA cooler" on the 'bay.

I soaked a piece of kitchen paper towel in the good old WD40, pressed on with a small weight. It was still difficult to remove but I didn't have to resort to a hammer and chisel.

Good luck!

Thank you very much.

mpe wrote on 2020-05-31, 10:32:

Early Diamond Stealth ISA with S3 924 and VRAM.

Put it to basket on eBay when it was £50. Forgot to check it out and eventually got £20! offer from seller which I gladly accepted.

o, very nice :3

appiah4 wrote on 2020-05-31, 10:15:

imi wrote on 2020-05-30, 21:45:

got this nice package from the bay […]
Show full quote

got this nice package from the bay

míro DC30 and a Terratec Profimedia that is in nicer condition than the one I already had
also two nice MS DOS dome stickers and one of those DS12887 replacements from the same seller :3
hardware38_69.jpg

oh yeah, and this Soyo SY-P4 I845PE ISA, P4 ISA board, one of the ISA slots is a bit crushed but I hope it's fine otherwise.
hardware38_70.jpg

I need one of those cards in my Terratec collection 🙁

I just realized that the other one I have is not a V2.23 and has the Crystal CS4248 chip instead of the AD1845
so I got both variants of the Maestro 16 now :3

they pop up here and there for cheap, just watch out for them, and don't buy the one that's listed way overpriced just because "ISA soundcard"

I ordered 2 spare 3C905 variant Ethernet cards from Eastern Europe . These things have really gone up in price too .