RMB - Reality (Official Video HD)
😁
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-8TM-rev-1x#ov
More later.
L.E. - 2 years have passed since I first posted in vogons.org! - great site/forum - may it live long and prosper 😁
My first 80386!!! Pine Technology PT-321 (M3200793) / AMD 386DX 40MHz / am386DX-40
Nebs Jack - Guys like me (Andre Rizo & Dj Pado remix)
For over three years since I've been going to the flea market, I've never seen a 80386 for sale. The 80286 is even harder to find. Rara avis.
The truth is that I wasnt searching for a 80286 or a 80386 as I was pretty sure that I wasnt going to pass the 80486 border and travel further into the past.
Like many times before, all it took was a tiny piece of kryptonite and I was already looking at the 80486 border in my rear view mirror.
I found the PT-321 motherboard at one of my contacts at the flea market.
On 14.04.2018 I went to the flea market to see what was avaialable. The day didnt look promising. All changed when I was faced with a pile of motherboards. 😁
I put aside the Pentium 4 and Athlon XP motherbaords and I was left with the 80386 plus 9 CPUs.
After a quick negociation I took THE LOOT and I went home.
The PT-321 is compact and the CPU is soldered on the motherboard. This didnt bother me at all as the CPU is pretty potent.
As soon as I laid my eyes on it, I thought about my Zida Tomato Board 4DPS.
It seems that the PT-321 was sold at a time when the 80386 cycle was coming to an end, and the 80486 was somewhat expensive.
Let's get to the matter at hand.
Eversince I negociated the price for the 80386, I knew that the CMOS battery leaked and all its poison spilled over the motherboard.
This didnt put me off as I was convinced that the motherboard was still alive. In the past I had to deal with far more desperate situations.
I removed the battery using a fine screwdriver. Some gentle persuasion was needed and the battery was free. I kept the battery terminals as I might need them down the road.
Initial state.
I applied the usual treatment for battery leaks: VINEGAR made from GRAPES.
Immediately after I used the vinegar, I could see the bubbles forming and the acid started to lose the fight.
I felt a great satisfaction while I was looking at the bubbles. BEGONE FIEND!!! 😁 😁 😁
When the reaction ended I was pleased to see that the treatment went according to plan. The laquer was a little affected but the traces are in great shape.
Cleaning was business as usual. You know the drill.
The leaked acid left some marks on the back of the motherboard. Nothing too serious.
The passing of time left its mark and on the back of the motherboard we can see a few white spots beneath the laquer. I dont know if these spots are from the manufacturing process or are the result of another factor.
I'm pretty sure, even with the facts mentioned above, that this 386 will continue to work long time from now. I cant say the same thing about some of my newer components though.
The glass half full.
The testing session was a complete success. ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO!
I didnt think it was necessary to use a controller and install an O.S. The motherboard is working well. Even from the first powerup, the PC SPEAKER greeted me with a happy BEEP! I'M ALIVE!!!
BULLETPROOF! I really like these old parts, they work and work and keep on working.
More later.
NEW ENTRIES:
1. Creative 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 - GeForce 2 GTS - 32 MB - GB0010
2. 2x Pentium II 350MHz - SL2U4
3. Creative Labs 3D Blaster Voodoo2 12MB - CT6670
4. ADAPTEC 1200A - Raid Controller - PCI
5. Cooler PDC38130BC
Obtained from the Good Ol' Flea Market..
Status unknown - I hope they work 😁
gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/27jz24na0/
More later.
😁 THE TOWER! 😁
Dr. Dre - Kush ft. Snoop Dogg, Akon
It seems this will be a HOT SUMMER! 😁
Hundreds and hundreds of pictures to post. More than 10 episodes in total, depending of how I decide to group them. 😁
More to come! 😁
This week: The red beast!
It took some work but I got it running and now she is purring like a kitten 😁
More later.
3870x2? 😀
"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB
Claptone - No Eyes (feat. Jaw)
The RED Beast!
As you probably already know, my luck regarding ATI cards is legendary ... bad ... yep. I dont see many ATI cards at the flea market and when I find them I think twice before I make a purchase.
The card featured in this episode is A MONSTER. I saw it briefly and that was enough: I WANT IT! I put my hands on it and I loved the weight of the mammoth. I knew well this feeling as I've experienced it many times since all this retro madness has started. There's always something "new" at the horizon. Something that stirs you up. FRESH! FRESH! Fresh from the dumpster, of course.
I bought the ATI Radeon 3870x2 on a Sunday, in July this year. The price was low. I haggled a bit and I managed to drive the price down. The day was rainy but it cleared up a bit after 12.00 o'clock and that was the window I was waiting for. That day I scored more good stuff besides the ATI card.
Meet the ASUS ROG HD 3870 X2 TOP (EAH3870X2-TOP/G/3DHTI/1G)
In the past I avoided many times to buy from the flea market, newer cards and especially PCI-E cards. The reasons are obvious: the danger of missing ICs, the difficulty to restore them, the risk of them beeing dead is far greater than in the case of older parts, etc.
The irony is that I broke this "rule" for an ATI card. Never say never ... they say.
So I was stuck with the little ASUS. 😁
Another fact to consider is that the 3870x2 (2008) is the second ATI dual-GPU card after Rage Fury MAXX (1999). I'm talking about ATI factory cards. If it was working it would've been awesome. Only 10 years have passed since it was introduced and it feels old. Life is in overdrive.
I left the card in the trunk of my car, but soon after that I brought it into the house and I decided to clean it and give it a go to see what's what.
The 3870x2 was full of dust and fingerprints. The fingerprints were very stubborn and werent removed by IPA 99%.
Before I bought it, I looked to see if something was missing on the back. At that time I didnt see anything suspicious. Later while I was cleaning it, I saw that it was missing two ceramic capacitors above the PCI-E connector and a third one was hanging for dear life.
I soldered the third one and I decided to find and solder the other two, the following day.
After this cold shower I felt I bought a wreck. My enthusiasm was going down...
Ready for testing.
IN YOU GO!
POWER ON! - nothing, black screen - NO SIGNAL!!!
Damn son, I told you not to buy crap form the flea market.
My gut feeling said it was alive. Was I mistaken?!
I took out the card from the PC and I conducted a thorough examination. Inch by inch.
Soon, I recevied more bad news.
MIA: 1 resitor, 1 transistor with unkown specs, one more ceramic capacitor hanging for dear life, 6 ceramic capacitor missing.
Not a pretty picture.
I didnt gave up and I hatched a rescue plan. I still believed that the card was alive.
I didnt know the specs of the missing transistor and I couldn't find detailed pictures on the internet. In many instances, articles written 10 years ago werent available. Such a shame.
So I looked for a solution.
The missing transistor was marked Q99. I searched for Q98 but I didnt find it so I looked for Q100. Luckily at Q100 I found two resistors and one tranzistor.
The similarity between Q99 and Q100 put me on the right path. I decided to transplant at the Q99 location one resistor and one tranzistor with the same specs as those at Q100.
The donor was a Medion ATI X740 XL.
This was the first time when I had to solder this many tiny components. The results arent my best work but I have accumulated experience and now I can do them a lot better.The solder job was verified and it is as strong as it can be.
In the past I used a soldering iron to remove the ceramic capacitors from the PCB and it was tedious.
Lately, I use gentle persuasion and I remove them flea market style. 😁 They come off surprisingly easy. A gentle tap with a set of pliers on the head of a fine screwdriver and they are free. A fact to remember when I decide to buy such complex cards from the flea market.
I used NO CLEAN flux when I soldered the missing parts as I wanted to test the card before I cleaned it. Even so, I used cotton sticks dipped in IPA 99% and a soft brush to remove the leftover flux and/or tiny bits of solder.
I put the card in the PC.
POWER ON!
WIN! WIN! WIN!
The satisfaction I felt was OFF THE CHARTS!!! A highly addictive drug, believe me.
Clean bill of health.
After I found out that the card was A-OK came the moment to clean it properly and restore it to its former glory.
Let's get to work!
Close-up with the problem areas.
First I tackled the heatsinks. Full of dust, hardened TIM and tired thermal pads. I decided to save the pads as they were softer than what I had available and I didnt know the exact width. I didnt need more problems.
I decided to restore the shine of the copper even if I knew that it will not last. I didnt use vinegar as it might've affected the silver fins.
I used small amounts of metal polishing paste and with patience I got the desired results.
The base of the heatsinks was left as it was.
After I finished with the heatsinks I worked on the other metal parts.
I tried to remove the fingerprints from the anodized aluminium shroud but to no avail. I used IPA 99%, tar remover, brake cleaner, metal polishing paste, paint polishing paste and none worked, so I gave up. The upside was that after all of this, the shroud was squeaky clean.
The PCB was cleaned well.
I added a few high res pictures. Maybe someone will find them useful.
I prepared the screws and other small parts.
The fans received some SPA TREAMENT.
Looking good!
I left the problem of the pads, for last.I cleaned them as much as I could with cotton sticks and IPA 99%. I had to be extra careful as the IPA99% softened up the pads and I didnt want to destroy them. I was very gentle with them, fully aware of the problems I was facing in the event of a disaster.
The rest was almost smooth sailing except the fact that I mounted the first heatsink and then the second one. I had to lign up the fixing holes using a source of light without touching the TIM on the GPU or the four pads on the memory. BUMPY RIDE! I used Arctic MX-4 for the GPU's.
The results? He, he, he, watch for yourselves 😁
Back from the gutter!!!
Normally this would the happy end of the story but it isnt so. 😁
While I was preparing the pictures for this episode I saw that two more ceramic caps were missing on the back of the card.
I soldered back the missing caps. The card is now at 100% 😁
gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/oohsxgy6/
More later. 😁
FRESH!
The V1 is missing 30-40 resistors - someone learned desoldering on this board. How STUPID!
I dont know if I'm going to repair the V1. The problem is that I dont have spare resistors or donor cards. We'll see... The missing caps aren't a problem. I have plenty of them.I can fix the missing pads. The price paid was very low. At the very least, this card will be kept for spare parts.
I found my first RAMBUS PC1066 256MB sticks 😁
Really nice restoration on the ATI.
wrote:In the past I avoided many times to buy from the flea market, newer cards and especially PCI-E cards. The reasons are obvious: the danger of missing ICs, the difficulty to restore them, the risk of them beeing dead is far greater than in the case of older parts, etc.
I was once fooled while buying a newer card on the flea market, now I only buy them if they are really really cheap. Old hardware on the other hand, I can't resist it and I usually buy.
@peido - the price I paid for the ASUS 3870X2 was 13 EUR - NO BRAINER 😁 - The work involved to restore the card is another matter entirely. I wanted to see if I can do it. Even if it took more time, the results were above my expectations. After this mammoth task I'll think twice before I tackle something similar but I'm pretty sure that in the near future I'll find another HUGE card that needs my attention 😁 Until know PCI-E cards were bellow my radar and I didnt want to buy them. Now I know that sometimes you can find a gem as long as the price is right or you know for sure that the card is alive.
ATI Rage Fury MAXX (1999) vs ATI Radeon HD 3870X2 (2008)
New Old Stock Cooler Neolec 890410-C - socket 7/370 (PGA max 533MHz)
Pentium 4 S423 - 1.5GHz - SL4SH
More later.
FREEZE!
Everybody clap your hands!
Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/retropcuser
😁
Interesting to see something like that.
Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/retropcuser
GAINWARD Beyond Your Senses - The MIGHTY 7800GS+
Gainward Bliss 7800GS+ 512MB AGP
Gainward SilentFX Active 7800GS+
Gainward 7800GS+ AGP8X 512MB TV-OUT 2DVI
P/N:XNA/780GS+T352+PM8370-GS
S/N:XNA/780GS+T352V906001863
Barcode:4718462007876
Back in the day I was a BIG fan of Gainward graphic cards. As usual, they were waaaaayyy out of my price range and all I could do was to read about them on the internet or from magazines and drool freely 😁 ... Even so, I wasnt put off by this, and I wanted a piece of heaven too and my first Gainward card was a Geforce 4 MX460 when everybody was buying MX440. The card I bought was a Gainward Geforce 4 MX460 64MB Golden Sample. Looking back I should've bought a Geforce 3 Ti 200 but at that time the MX460 brought me a lot of joy. I bought the MX460 together with an ECS K7VTA3 V3.1 – KT333 motherboard. I still remember vividly the moment when I got the package from the courier. It's like it was yesterday... Later I bought an Athlon XP 1900+/Palomino core CPU, after I tricked my father a little, and I was good to go!
Happy times.
A few years later I sold the MX460 to a cousin and I bought it back from him only to sell it to someone else. When I write these lines I wish I didnt sell the card, well..., I was young and foolish... 😁
The Gainward 7800GS+, featured in this episode, was bought from the flea market together with the ASUS ATI Radeon HD 3870x2 PCI-E, from the previous episode.
Like many times in the past, as soon as I laid my eyes on the 7800GS+, I knew I HAD TO HAVE IT! The initial price was steep, around 55 EUR but I was at the right time and in the right place, Sunday at the end of the flea market day, somewhere around 12.00 o'clock and I managed to drive down the price. In the end I paid for the card the hefty sum of 11 EUR. 😁
After I had my way with this card and I found out what has in the engine bay, the selling price, IF I decide to sell it, went well beyond what I paid for it.
From what I read on the internet, the GW 7800GS+ with the G71-GT2-H-N-A2 core was a limited edition. It has a Geforce 7950GT core with 24 pixel shaders / 8 vertex shaders but only 8 ROPs instead of 16. This model is quite overclockable. I didnt try to see what it can do because I dont have a powerfull AGP setup yet.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/183/geforce-7950-gt
What were the odds to find such a card at the flea market? Pretty small! 11EUR well spent!
When I bought the card I didnt know if it was working. It had many scratches but after I conducted a through PCB inspection and I didnt saw anything suspicious I decided to do all I could to make it mine.
When I got home I stared at it for a few minutes and after this I said to myself : MINE ALL MINE!!!
Smookin' HOT beastly AGP video card! I love that GAINWARD LOGO! Such a shame Gainward isn't what it once was...
Lets clean this sucker!
Hi! It's me the 7800GS+!
RED PCB!!! FTW!!!
Hefty cooler!
What do we have here? FUR? Nope. Dust, some animal hairs, cigarette smoke and God knows what! YUCK!
Cool looking fan and a nice shroud.
I washed the plastic shroud and I was pleased with the results.
I still didnt know if I had the full 24/8 setup. I didnt want to power it up and I decided to cleant it first. If you ask yourselves how I managed to restrain myself I can say that it took will and many other situations like these experienced in the past. The moment when you power-up a cleaned/restored card has some similarities with moment when you first power-up a new card. The feeling is intense and addictive.
After I removed the hardened TIM I was greeted by the string G71-GT2-H-N-A2. THE REAL DEAL!
After this discovery I started the cleaning process and first I tackled the heatsink.
Initially I wanted to remove the thermal pads but they were glued in place and any attempt to take them off was met with a failure. I even put the heatsink in the freezer for a few minutes but still NO DICE!
In the end I decided to leave them in place. If it aint broken why fix it? They were clean, undamaged and reusable. Why bother?
The card has Samsung DK4J52324QC-BC14 GDDR3 memory chips that are rated up to 700MHz. From factory they run at a pedestrian 550 MHz.
On your mark, get, set, GO!
The heatsink was cleaned thoroughly. I flatened a few cotton sticks and I dipped then in IPA 99% and I cleaned each and every fin. The end result was quite good .
Because the backplate nuts have a fine thread and they were quite hard to remove, I decided to put them in my trusty rust remover solution.
I prepared the backplate and the bracket for cleaning. A little polishing paste and they came out like new.
All this time the rust remover solution did its job.
Some metal shards were left on the bottom of the container.
I took out the screws from the rust remover solution and I washed them well with IPA 99%.
The nuts were much easier to thread on the screws.
Shiny.
Because the plastic shroud of the cooler has a mirror finish, I decided to use a microfiber cloth to avoid scratching it further.
The most difficult part was to clean the fan. I didnt want to take it apart and I used various tools to clean it well. I managed to clean only 95% of the dirt from under the fan. The rest of the fan and surrounding area was easier to clean 100%. If I removed the sticker on the back that meant losing the factory look. A NO NO in my book. In the end my efforts were enough and the final results were very good. The fan is still silent and spins easily.
Some battle scars. Nothing too serious.
I took the required measures to eliminate the rattle of a few fins.
Cooling system DONE!
Next came the cleaning of the PCB. My favourite part.
Ready for assembly.
DONE!
As I mentioned above, I dont have a potent AGP test system, yet, so I had to use my trusty KT333.
In one of my visits at the flea market I found an Athlon XP 2400+/266MHz Thorton core CPU. Because the 3.1 revision of my ECS K7VTA3 motherboard doesnt support 333MHz bus CPUs, the Athlon XP 2400+/266 Thorton core was better than my Athlon XP 1900+/266 Palomino core, so I did a BIOS update and I was ready for a test.
The mainboard ECS K7VTA3 3.1, uses an AMD 462-pin Socket A that has the following features:
· Supports 100(200)/133(266) MHz frontside bus (FSB)
· Accommodates AMD Athlon XP/Athlon/Duron processors
Was the 7800GS+ alive and kicking?
2001: A Space Odyssey Theme • Also Sprach Zarathustra • Richard Strauss
HELL YEAH!!!
WIN! WIN! WIN!
That's a wrap!
gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/l4i5t1w2/
More later.
Next episode will feature my second K7M. 😁
I LOVE SLOT A MOTHERBOARDS!!!
😁
More later.
