Bought my self a Christmas prezzie since I will be at work again this Christmas and I need something at the end of all this Overtime.

This one was a bit expensive but I rarely buy such pricey items, saw this Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW with dual Athlon MP 2200+ CPUs and 2gb of ECC memory and decided to add it to my retro collection, never had a dual Athlon XP/MP rig and this one has been recapped, BIOS updated and comes with a spare BIOS chip so its likely worth around what the seller wanted. Not sure if I should put Win2K on it or go with XP/98se + patches, it should be a pretty solid retro rig if I pair it with a X800 series GPU.

Which brings me to another small purchase of 4 GPUs that need a little restoration, I really only wanted one of the 4 in the bundle but the seller didn't want to separate them. The 4 cards are
- ATI Radeon X850 XT AGP 8X 256MB GDDR3
- ATI Radeon X800 Pro AGP 8X 256MB GDDR3
- ATI Radeon X1650 AGP 8X 512MB DDR2
- nVidia GeForce 7600 GS AGP 8X 256MB DDR2

Only wanted the X850 XT board which looks super clean and appears undamaged, getting a X850 XT AGP card is oddly difficult here in Australia and even on the bay they are kinda uncommon and expensive, Also grabbed a Arctic Silencer 4 cooler for it which is NIB. The 4 cards plus the Coolers was about 150 USD which isnt too bad if the X850XT and X800 Pro both work, if not well that's the gamble you take with untested gear. (Im fine with gambles)

Also grabbed this Fujitsu internal 640Mb MO drive to throw in it, I have a large collection of MO drives and disks but have never had an Internal one, this buy was an odd one, description has it for one lot which apparently has 10 items in it ...no idea if it was correct. I assume it for one drive only but who knows with eBay. (If its 10 drives then ...I guess I sell the other 8 )

Today I got this PCI 56k voice modem with Conexant chipset. Any opinions?
Also according to the part number, I seen that was a Wisecom hardware modem (not a software or winmodem)

Yesterday I bought a carton of 500 floppies... individual packs of ten 1.44MB 3.5" diskettes, new old stock that's still sealed! They appear to be fairly ancient relics, the blurb on the back of each pack proudly proclaims that they are factory formatted "for IBM PS/2's and other systems (model 30 286, 50 and higher) using 1.44MB capacity drives".

I haven't opened any of the packs for testing yet but they appear to be in pretty good shape. I'll never need to bother reformatting and re-using old floppies again!

Paid $20 for the entire carton which works out to 4 cents per diskette which is an absolute bargain hahaha....

kdr wrote on 2023-12-09, 19:51:

Yesterday I bought a carton of 500 floppies... individual packs of ten 1.44MB 3.5" diskettes, new old stock that's still sealed! They appear to be fairly ancient relics, the blurb on the back of each pack proudly proclaims that they are factory formatted "for IBM PS/2's and other systems (model 30 286, 50 and higher) using 1.44MB capacity drives".

I haven't opened any of the packs for testing yet but they appear to be in pretty good shape. I'll never need to bother reformatting and re-using old floppies again!

Paid $20 for the entire carton which works out to 4 cents per diskette which is an absolute bargain hahaha....

That's awesome. I don't know New Zealand's climate but I imagine it's dry? If so they should be in great shape still. I always had good luck with old discs in California anyway.

I've complained about the lack of electronics/computer parts at thrift stores around here in FL, but on my last trip I found this:

Not terribly exciting, but it was a novelty to find any old computer part that's not a monitor.

I don't like laggy "high speed" CD drives, but inside the box I found this:

which the internet says is an 8X - so I bought it. I've liked my 4X and 6X drives, never used an 8X but hopefully it's still sane and nicely behaved.

weirdly there are 2 sets of jumpers, and the label doesn't explain this:

Do I move them together? Just one? I have no idea.

The eject button is light and responsive, the tray opens and closes quickly, but it grinds.
It never spins the disc, and Win98 gives a "not ready" error when trying to use the drive.
I'm guessing it has a broken belt and needs lubrication.
I've never opened an optical drive or attempted these type of repairs, but I need to learn that stuff sometime.
If it is a broken belt, I'm afraid it may be hard to get an accurate enough measurement of how long it is.

shamino wrote on 2023-12-09, 21:07:

I've complained about the lack of electronics/computer parts at thrift stores around here in FL, but on my last trip I found thi […]
Show full quote

I've complained about the lack of electronics/computer parts at thrift stores around here in FL, but on my last trip I found this:
box1.jpg
Not terribly exciting, but it was a novelty to find any old computer part that's not a monitor.

I don't like laggy "high speed" CD drives, but inside the box I found this:
driveInBox.jpg
which the internet says is an 8X - so I bought it. I've liked my 4X and 6X drives, never used an 8X but hopefully it's still sane and nicely behaved.

drivelabels_noPlastic.jpg

weirdly there are 2 sets of jumpers, and the label doesn't explain this:
jumpers.jpg
Do I move them together? Just one? I have no idea.

The eject button is light and responsive, the tray opens and closes quickly, but it grinds.
It never spins the disc, and Win98 gives a "not ready" error when trying to use the drive.
I'm guessing it has a broken belt and needs lubrication.
I've never opened an optical drive or attempted these type of repairs, but I need to learn that stuff sometime.
If it is a broken belt, I'm afraid it may be hard to get an accurate enough measurement of how long it is.

The belt tends to drive the tray. the cd itself is mostly directly driven by a motor. It not spinning tends to indicate the drive not seeing a cd which can be due to a dirty or broken laser.

I chuckled.

RetroPC_King wrote on 2023-12-09, 16:50:

Today I got this PCI 56k voice modem with Conexant chipset. Any opinions?
Also according to the part number, I seen that was a Wisecom hardware modem (not a software or winmodem)

Just out of curiosity. Is there interesting things to do with modems today?

I accidentally got a box full of modems and I don't know what to do with it

PD2JK wrote on 2023-12-09, 21:54:

I chuckled.
Screenshot_20231209-225148~2.png

I'm trying to guess what Sheldon Cooper would have said.
Btw, it's good low level marketing: twicing things 😀

kdr wrote on 2023-12-09, 19:51:

Yesterday I bought a carton of 500 floppies... individual packs of ten 1.44MB 3.5" diskettes, new old stock that's still sealed! They appear to be fairly ancient relics, the blurb on the back of each pack proudly proclaims that they are factory formatted "for IBM PS/2's and other systems (model 30 286, 50 and higher) using 1.44MB capacity drives".

I haven't opened any of the packs for testing yet but they appear to be in pretty good shape. I'll never need to bother reformatting and re-using old floppies again!

Paid $20 for the entire carton which works out to 4 cents per diskette which is an absolute bargain hahaha....

Bargain? This is a memorable purchase!!

acl wrote on 2023-12-09, 22:19:

RetroPC_King wrote on 2023-12-09, 16:50:

Today I got this PCI 56k voice modem with Conexant chipset. Any opinions?
Also according to the part number, I seen that was a Wisecom hardware modem (not a software or winmodem)

Just out of curiosity. Is there interesting things to do with modems today?

I accidentally got a box full of modems and I don't know what to do with it

I've seen some videos of guys creating their own home ISP that works with their modem. I'm not sure how difficult it would be or how much it would cost.

It's there any useful game or application that would benefit from a modem that a LAN adapter couldn't fulfill? I'm not talking about the "experience" of using a modem but rather a game where multiplayer only works via a modem, etc.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-12-10, 04:35:

It's there any useful game or application that would benefit from a modem that a LAN adapter couldn't fulfill? I'm not talking about the "experience" of using a modem but rather a game where multiplayer only works via a modem, etc.

Perhaps some of the oldder games that came before LAN and needed a modem hookup to work, BBS games come to mind.

It's the December 2023 edition of BitWrangler bought a weird heatsink fan again. IDK if the weird ones just find me or what, Scythe Big Shuriken this time. IDK either why there seems to be a higher proportion of CPU coolers turning up in thrifts vs any other parts here either, except optical drives, always a bunch of those. Use-able size IDE HDD are a bit rarer though so grabbed a 160GB for a socket 370/A/478 or something, maybe it's good, maybe I overpaid for fridge magnets.

The sink I'm seeing is supposed to handle up to 135W, I picked it up considering the overhead clearance issues I have in an Apex ITX case, I don't know if it's good for horizontal clearances yet, I'll find out. Though I can probably put it to work elsewhere too. I am thinking now that if it goes in good, the L5430 that I"m putting in there might find itself told it's actually a 1600FSB CPU since I've probably got power headroom and if this fits cooling headroom.

Unpictured, grabbed a ThinkVision L193pC monitor, because it was all "You really gonna let me sit here for a measly $10, c'mon bro, it's like $10, what you gonna do with $10 these days, buy a pop? ..." ... yeah I thunk it would find a use might displace one of the older blurrier 17s. Not sure how it is for modes yet.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-12-10, 23:27:

It's the December 2023 edition of BitWrangler bought a weird heatsink fan again. IDK if the weird ones just find me or what, Scythe Big Shuriken this time. IDK either why there seems to be a higher proportion of CPU coolers turning up in thrifts vs any other parts here either, except optical drives, always a bunch of those. Use-able size IDE HDD are a bit rarer though so grabbed a 160GB for a socket 370/A/478 or something, maybe it's good, maybe I overpaid for fridge magnets.

The sink I'm seeing is supposed to handle up to 135W, I picked it up considering the overhead clearance issues I have in an Apex ITX case, I don't know if it's good for horizontal clearances yet, I'll find out. Though I can probably put it to work elsewhere too. I am thinking now that if it goes in good, the L5430 that I"m putting in there might find itself told it's actually a 1600FSB CPU since I've probably got power headroom and if this fits cooling headroom.

Unpictured, grabbed a ThinkVision L193pC monitor, because it was all "You really gonna let me sit here for a measly $10, c'mon bro, it's like $10, what you gonna do with $10 these days, buy a pop? ..." ... yeah I thunk it would find a use might displace one of the older blurrier 17s. Not sure how it is for modes yet.

IIRC it was a good h/s. Unless you put it in a shed you're going to tell us how it performs.
What is a "pop" exactly?

"Pop" is a "soda", aka "soda pop".

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-12-11, 00:35:

"Pop" is a "soda", aka "soda pop".

I've been watching too much crime shows... 🤣
I thought it was a different thing.

Nexxen wrote on 2023-12-11, 00:09:

IIRC it was a good h/s. Unless you put it in a shed you're going to tell us how it performs.
What is a "pop" exactly?

Yes, soda pop, fizzy drink, carbonated minerals, chinotto kinda thing, or even as those Southerners say "coke" 🤣 ... $1o is a slight exaggeration for "street price" but you'll see near that and higher at the cinema or events.

I feel like I should get the shed test out of the way first though, which kind should I drop on it, an amish built rough hewn post barn, or a home improvement store tin shack? 🤣

Nexxen wrote on 2023-12-11, 00:48:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-12-11, 00:35:

"Pop" is a "soda", aka "soda pop".

I've been watching too much crime shows... 🤣
I thought it was a different thing.

🤣 "pop" not "pot"

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-12-10, 04:35:

It's there any useful game or application that would benefit from a modem that a LAN adapter couldn't fulfill? I'm not talking about the "experience" of using a modem but rather a game where multiplayer only works via a modem, etc.

I remember back in the day, a friend and I played Need For Speed (Hot Pursuit IIRC) on a direct modem connection. Don't think that over the internet was an option ...

We were on the cell phone at the same time and there was really big delays/lags in update of each other's position. You could think you won, but that was only because your opponent's position wasn't updated yet ... 🤣