What retro things have you done today?

Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
Posts
37,493
Location
Leafy Cheshire
Was unable to resist the German PAL 8045, turned up today in fantastic condition, no Delta fan like mine used to have but a YS-Tec instead. Not cheap but first time i've seen a 8045 in the wild for ages so yolo.
Nice, similar to what I paid for mine, but mine came with the venerable Papst silent fan of the period. I too used to have the EHE, and an looking for one!
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jul 2005
Posts
9,679
Gradually building up my collection of stuff from the early to mid 2000's. Managed to grab a few relative bargains on eBay:

First up is the Dell XPS M1710 fully kitted out with a T7400 (2.16Ghz C2D), 4GB DDR2 and the top end 7950GTX 512MB. Quite nice considering the listing had it as the entry level 7900GS 256MB.. :)

7VtsVKql.jpg

FVqGyVRl.jpg

It needed some general TLC and a real thorough clean out as it crashed out of 3DMark03 on the first run due to overheating. Now it runs like a champ and scores a smidge over 20k. Oh and the battery still holds a charge....


Second up we have this bright red machine:

NGN2Eo2l.jpg

YEClUzfl.jpg

This is an Acer Ferrari from ~2004 with a Single core Athlon 64 3000+ (2Ghz), 2GB DDR and a Radon Mobility 9700 128MB. Not quite as quick as the XPS (~3,200 in 3DMark03) but still nice and quick for the earlier XP games. Oh and the GPU overclocks.... :D


Finally for laptops, I picked up the following "business" machine as I wanted something that could quite easily handle anything from the pre XP era without breaking the bank:

fcbzmfwl.jpg

wjIi52Sl.jpg

Its a Compaq N600C with a 1.2Ghz Tualatin PIII, 512MB RAM and a Radeon Mobility 7000 32MB. The laptop looks barely used and came with a mountain of paperwork and software (sadly no games):

s6qmUGBl.jpg

Its also running a 64GB mSATA SSD in a PATA enclosure as the original 40GB 4200RPM was doing my head in with the noise (I think it was dying).


My overall plan is to use these machines for Windows XP and 98/2000 games instead of Desktops. I simply don't have the room to have multiple desktops built up and just want to be able to pick up and play without building a system up each time.

That said I also added to my Skt 775 collection with a ~90% complete in box Foxxconn Blackops board:

y45oMcrl.jpg

wAyDnXRl.jpg


Current plan is to see if how far I push my 9550 on it vs the Rampage.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
19,885
Gradually building up my collection of stuff from the early to mid 2000's. Managed to grab a few relative bargains on eBay:

First up is the Dell XPS M1710 fully kitted out with a T7400 (2.16Ghz C2D), 4GB DDR2 and the top end 7950GTX 512MB. Quite nice considering the listing had it as the entry level 7900GS 256MB.. :)

7VtsVKql.jpg

FVqGyVRl.jpg

It needed some general TLC and a real thorough clean out as it crashed out of 3DMark03 on the first run due to overheating. Now it runs like a champ and scores a smidge over 20k. Oh and the battery still holds a charge....


Second up we have this bright red machine:

NGN2Eo2l.jpg

YEClUzfl.jpg

This is an Acer Ferrari from ~2004 with a Single core Athlon 64 3000+ (2Ghz), 2GB DDR and a Radon Mobility 9700 128MB. Not quite as quick as the XPS (~3,200 in 3DMark03) but still nice and quick for the earlier XP games. Oh and the GPU overclocks.... :D


Finally for laptops, I picked up the following "business" machine as I wanted something that could quite easily handle anything from the pre XP era without breaking the bank:

fcbzmfwl.jpg

wjIi52Sl.jpg

Its a Compaq N600C with a 1.2Ghz Tualatin PIII, 512MB RAM and a Radeon Mobility 7000 32MB. The laptop looks barely used and came with a mountain of paperwork and software (sadly no games):

s6qmUGBl.jpg

Its also running a 64GB mSATA SSD in a PATA enclosure as the original 40GB 4200RPM was doing my head in with the noise (I think it was dying).


My overall plan is to use these machines for Windows XP and 98/2000 games instead of Desktops. I simply don't have the room to have multiple desktops built up and just want to be able to pick up and play without building a system up each time.

That said I also added to my Skt 775 collection with a ~90% complete in box Foxxconn Blackops board:

y45oMcrl.jpg

wAyDnXRl.jpg


Current plan is to see if how far I push my 9550 on it vs the Rampage.
Nice laptops :)
If its XP and 98 stuff you’re playing, why not just use the Dell XPS only?

Ignore, realise the hardware will only work with xp maybe for the Dell and 98 for the HP
 
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Soldato
Joined
12 May 2011
Posts
6,143
Location
Southampton
I think I've reached some kind of happy medium with my retro gaming. I have my proper 1080p monitor set up (need it for work) and just put up with the non-native pixels when running 1024 and 1280 resolutions. It means my retro PC can now stay out and I had quite a bit of fun on Sim Copter and Unreal Tournament. I got rid of all of my disks but I install my GOG games on a normal PC and then just copy over the installed game directly to Program Files on the Windows 98 box. Some GOG games are already widescreen patched so I can run them at 1080p although I could do that on my Windows 10 PC so it blurs the lines of "why play it on my W98 PC" even more.

It does struggle a bit with UT99 though, the temptation is rising to get a faster system (either something 754 so I can use a modern heatsink or a Socket 370 as I already have a 800Mhz CPU for that).
 
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
19,885
Soaking yellowed plastics in a mix of hydrogen peroxide and water and leaving it in sunlight for about 6hours or so.. removes the yellowing and restores back to white/grey original colour. But you need good sunlight. :(
Isnt the 'retro' look supposed to be yellow? :D
 
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
19,885
I think I've reached some kind of happy medium with my retro gaming. I have my proper 1080p monitor set up (need it for work) and just put up with the non-native pixels when running 1024 and 1280 resolutions. It means my retro PC can now stay out and I had quite a bit of fun on Sim Copter and Unreal Tournament. I got rid of all of my disks but I install my GOG games on a normal PC and then just copy over the installed game directly to Program Files on the Windows 98 box. Some GOG games are already widescreen patched so I can run them at 1080p although I could do that on my Windows 10 PC so it blurs the lines of "why play it on my W98 PC" even more.

It does struggle a bit with UT99 though, the temptation is rising to get a faster system (either something 754 so I can use a modern heatsink or a Socket 370 as I already have a 800Mhz CPU for that).

What desktop/laptop are you attempting to run UT99? I dont like the idea of copying files from GOG to Win98 / other older OS. GOG change the games and remove the retro bits like always make me smile. Things like the old gamespy and TEN bundled programs.
Widescreen was never a thing when there were only 4:3 screens. GOG really sucks balls, retro games should be kept as they were originally not changed and made available to run on Windows 10 in widescreen and require 20x the computing power of the original :rolleyes:
 
Soldato
Joined
12 May 2011
Posts
6,143
Location
Southampton
A P3 450 with a (fast) MX card and 128MB of RAM. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU as dropping to 640*480 didn't help, the frame rate still wildly fluctuated from 20 to 60 depending on what was happening.

I don't think GOG would work if games were sold as originally provided. Can you imagine the customer support they'd have to offer if they provided the original games only. The number of people who want to play quake is a lot bigger than the number of people who want to play quake on a Pentium PC at 320*200, but the GOG version doesn't stop me from doing that if I want to.

I think it's great that there is an option to legitimately buy retro games (probably the only way that the original developers stand any chance of getting paid from) in a way that can be played by a 13 year old on their family dell or whatever the 2021 equivalent of that is, rather than adding a new barrier to entry by only listing the original games.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Dec 2002
Posts
1,764
Location
The 80's
I think I've reached some kind of happy medium with my retro gaming. I have my proper 1080p monitor set up (need it for work) and just put up with the non-native pixels when running 1024 and 1280 resolutions. It means my retro PC can now stay out and I had quite a bit of fun on Sim Copter and Unreal Tournament. I got rid of all of my disks but I install my GOG games on a normal PC and then just copy over the installed game directly to Program Files on the Windows 98 box. Some GOG games are already widescreen patched so I can run them at 1080p although I could do that on my Windows 10 PC so it blurs the lines of "why play it on my W98 PC" even more.

It does struggle a bit with UT99 though, the temptation is rising to get a faster system (either something 754 so I can use a modern heatsink or a Socket 370 as I already have a 800Mhz CPU for that).

754 Is not a bad shout mate. I built a 754 system with a 9800 Pro that ran Windows 98. Only thing to consider is to use a VIA chipset as Win98 doesn't support Nforce 3 chipset (No drivers)

edit here it is https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/34777098
 
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
19,885
A P3 450 with a (fast) MX card and 128MB of RAM. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU as dropping to 640*480 didn't help, the frame rate still wildly fluctuated from 20 to 60 depending on what was happening.

I don't think GOG would work if games were sold as originally provided. Can you imagine the customer support they'd have to offer if they provided the original games only. The number of people who want to play quake is a lot bigger than the number of people who want to play quake on a Pentium PC at 320*200, but the GOG version doesn't stop me from doing that if I want to.

I think it's great that there is an option to legitimately buy retro games (probably the only way that the original developers stand any chance of getting paid from) in a way that can be played by a 13 year old on their family dell or whatever the 2021 equivalent of that is, rather than adding a new barrier to entry by only listing the original games.
CPU I dont think will be the issue. I’ve got a P3 550Mhz, 512MB RAM, Voodoo 3 16MB and it plays great at 800 x 600.
Have you tried Quake 2 and Quake 3 timedemos?
 
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Associate
Joined
22 Oct 2002
Posts
686
Location
Cardiff
I've been playing around with my Abit Geforce 4 Ti 4400 in preparation for a new project and i've been looking for a specific driver with out much luck. Does anyone have a copy of or know where to get one for the Omega Driver v43.45 they seem to have been very popular back in the day but none of the links now work :rolleyes: unfortunately

Thanks in advance Chris
 
Associate
Joined
5 Dec 2002
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Location
The 80's
Not messed with Retro stuff for a while, but still finding myself looking on eBay. Saw a Asus P3B-F 1.04 for a really good price so picked it up as its always nice to have good Slot 1 boards. Its a 1.04 with 2 ISA slots. From reading about they normally come with just the 1 slot. Tested it with a PIII 1ghz 133mhz and it booted fine. May do some overclocking with the as it appears to have some nice options in that regard.
 
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