Soldato
Me right now:
Associate
It's not wrong to call it an obsession. A lot of those boxes contain my collection of graphics cards, I have most of the flagship cards and lower end from 1996 upwards. Also a lot of motherboards that I want to keep. Probably only 30% of all the items are doubles.
I never thought that I will get up to this point, so now that I got those CRT monitors for free, I plan to open a museum in a few years, a bunch of PC units for LAN party, so a lot of those parts will definitely come useful. I don't want to keep all of them just for me
I do have some parts that I plan to sell in the future, people invest money into different things, I just know this field and I like playing with the parts.
Sorry to hear that
I only jest as I can't say anything! If I had a space to store that much stuff (and I could get it cheap enough!) I'd probably have the same amount of kit. 
Associate
Don't be sorry, I'm notSorry to hear that
. I think she is one of reasons I started collecting, it was my refugee in a way, something to keep me busy and distract me from her nagging.I also understand when people get upset @Guest2 when they see other people "hoarding" retro items, but for me it's one of the few things that keeps me happy.
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Thats the main thing, regardless of what people say or think, its up to you if you want to hoard or maintain a collection of an item, and if that brings you happiness then all the power to you
Hoard away! It's better they go to be used in a museum or LAN party as you mention in the future than landfill
What is slightly annoying is people show off their collection of items, say PCMCIA sound cards as an example which being bought super cheap, kept in storage then sold on for £500+ on eBay and elsewhere.
Basically I like it when the old retro devices / appliances get used instead of kept in a cupboard and sold on for huge profit because some people have bought many just to make money.
No different to antiques really, but retro computer gear is nice when it's used. Most antiques cannot be 'used' (or safely used)
What is slightly annoying is people show off their collection of items, say PCMCIA sound cards as an example which being bought super cheap, kept in storage then sold on for £500+ on eBay and elsewhere.
Basically I like it when the old retro devices / appliances get used instead of kept in a cupboard and sold on for huge profit because some people have bought many just to make money.
No different to antiques really, but retro computer gear is nice when it's used. Most antiques cannot be 'used' (or safely used)
Associate
I understand what you're saying. I shouldn't include myself, but we get angry when we see someone having the stuff that we want too. In reality this happens across all fields, like stamps as you mentioned, or even houses. But it affects us because we have a special interest in retro computers.
I don't buy items for the sole purpose of selling them in 10 years for a huge profit, it's not fair. But sometimes it happens that I will buy an item that I already have, I just forget that I have it. It's so easy to buy, open the parcel, then dump it in a storage box. I wish I had more time to sort them out.
You see so many boxes in the pictures because graphics cards take a bit of space. I have a lot of graphics cards, similar model, but from different brands. I know I have tens of 6600 cards, all different AIB models. It's a card I wish I had when I was younger, so I have a particular interest to collect this one.
Installed MS DOS 6.22 last night on PCem
486 AMI WinBIOS
DX4/100, 16MB RAM, 450MB HDD, AWE32
All setup and working great. Even managed to get Hi-Octane installed from the original CD. Todays youth will not know the pains of earlier computers where you had no info to get things like more conventional memory and other basic things like sound hardware working... without Google!?
486 AMI WinBIOS
DX4/100, 16MB RAM, 450MB HDD, AWE32
All setup and working great. Even managed to get Hi-Octane installed from the original CD. Todays youth will not know the pains of earlier computers where you had no info to get things like more conventional memory and other basic things like sound hardware working... without Google!?
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This post has cheered me up!
I was written off as a pupil in '92 - I truly flunked my GCSE's but figured out Emm386 and Himem! Poring over the MS-DOS 5.0 manual to workout memory configurations to get Aces of the Pacific, Ultima, The Black Gate working!
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God knows how I managed to get Epic Pinball working when I was ~13. Trying to free up memory without the help of the interent was like black magic! Still sort of is, even with detailed guides.This post has cheered me up!
I was written off as a pupil in '92 - I truly flunked my GCSE's but figured out Emm386 and Himem! Poring over the MS-DOS 5.0 manual to workout memory configurations to get Aces of the Pacific, Ultima, The Black Gate working!
Then there came Windows with its IRQ conflicts, random freezing and sometimes totally useless error messages. It sort of became of an obsession to make things work, even if it didnt matter or I didnt use the program / game I was trying to fix. It was probably baked into me from an early age of owning an Amiga 500.
Around the age of 7 (1991) I remember certain boxed games looking incredible, only for the disks not to work or throw up errors. Or you needed to hold the disk in the drive a certain way for it to work. My Amiga I would tip on its side sometimes as it seemed to work better?! I think from that age it was more a "lets see if this works" and then "can I get it working somehow" rather than "I cant wait to enjoy this game"
Oddly though, I hate programming and still do.
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I picked up a Black 201 recently via the MM. Being a big ATCS fan, putting some work in to get this one as nice as possible.
Overall condition is really good, just needs some light TLC.
Started with polishing the paintwork, came up beautifully.
imgur.com
Overall condition is really good, just needs some light TLC.
Started with polishing the paintwork, came up beautifully.
imgur.com
Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users.
imgur.com
Soldato
With health and other stuff this year I haven't had much time to do anything retro sadly Was nice to have a notification from the thread tbh, it hasn't shown me one in ages weirdly????
Next plan is to finish off the Socket A build the last thing i did was installed the cheap X1950 Pro 512MB I was able to pick up. I also have an AGP HD3850 that I couldn't get to work upon some quick testing but I think it may have been a PSU limitation as I was informed that it likes a drink!, so fingers crossed! I have a modular 650w in the garage that I am going to migrate into that box to hopefully also sort out that and all the cable management at the same time and make it as tidy as it deserves
After that the Q6600, SLI 260 Golden Sample build is up and running but again I haven't had time to give it the proper attention it needs.
Seemed to have amassed a range of SoundBlaster Audigy and X-fi boards too which hoping to add to the mix at the same time
With the nights closing in and weather not being so nice I think that these will be my focus
Looking forward to getting back to it.
Thinking of maybe selling my Sony KDL22-PX300 PS2-TV that is sat gathering dust to raise some funds towards tasty retro upgrades and a new GPU for the main gaming rig....shame but its not been touch in 14 odd months and doesn't have a use really
Was nice to have a notification from the thread tbh, it hasn't shown me one in ages weirdly????Next plan is to finish off the Socket A build the last thing i did was installed the cheap X1950 Pro 512MB I was able to pick up. I also have an AGP HD3850 that I couldn't get to work upon some quick testing but I think it may have been a PSU limitation as I was informed that it likes a drink!, so fingers crossed! I have a modular 650w in the garage that I am going to migrate into that box to hopefully also sort out that and all the cable management at the same time and make it as tidy as it deserves
After that the Q6600, SLI 260 Golden Sample build is up and running but again I haven't had time to give it the proper attention it needs.
Seemed to have amassed a range of SoundBlaster Audigy and X-fi boards too which hoping to add to the mix at the same time
With the nights closing in and weather not being so nice I think that these will be my focus
Looking forward to getting back to it.
Thinking of maybe selling my Sony KDL22-PX300 PS2-TV that is sat gathering dust to raise some funds towards tasty retro upgrades and a new GPU for the main gaming rig....shame but its not been touch in 14 odd months and doesn't have a use really
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Played some Kingpin life of crime. I'm playing on hard setting (not the hardest which is 'real') and its impossible. Enemies take 10-20 pistol shots but their shotguns take you down in 3-4. This is only on the first level after getting the condenser coil and going to the safe! Playing on PCem on a Pentium MMX 233, 64MB RAM, Voodoo 1
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How does it play? I tried it on a real 233mmx and a Banshee a few years ago and it was a slide show. Your playing it on minimum recommended specs?
Soldato
Not much retro activity on account of moving house a couple of weeks ago and getting married last week, before everyone fell ill this week!
So today I got bored and re-watched LGR's build a 486 video and now I really want to set up my 486 PC again, but I have no where to put it in the new house / office / mancave.
So today I got bored and re-watched LGR's build a 486 video and now I really want to set up my 486 PC again, but I have no where to put it in the new house / office / mancave.
Plays well in slightly lowered graphics or slideshow in highest as was the case in the late 90s I found with most latest fps games.
For me at least there was alwasys a struggle of high end stutter slideshow mess or lowered graphics and playable.
Visual - 3dfx opengl, 640 x 480, texture quality low, 8 bit textures no, sync every frame no, shadows yes, fog yes, pain skins high
Options - sound quality low (awe32) fireworks on, directional lighting on, blood time high, props yes
I specifically remember Kingpin wouldnt run properly even on lowest graphics on my computer. I would go to a friends house and play Kingpin on his dads PC but remmeber the loading times were super high even on his high end machine - HDD thrashing when going into a new area and load times around 2-3 minutes for new areas! It did look way better though and way playable on high settinga
I would say PCem is reasonably true to proper hardware, maybe the Voodoo is slightly overpowered but it is set to 8MB instead of 4MB or 6MB as I remember having (a 4MB)
PCem 17 machine setup;
Socket 7 Shuttle HOT-557 - Intel i430VX PCIset(TM)
Intel Pentium MMX 233
64MB RAM
S3 Virge/DX as primary display
Voodoo secondary. Framebuffer at 4MB and texture memory at 4MB. Render threads are on 2
AWE32 28MB on chip memory
Standard IDE HDD (8GB)
AZT CDA 468-02I 4X CD drive
Intellimouse PS/2
Windows 95 4.00.950 C OSR2.5
Direct X7.0
Glide gamma 1.1
glide2x.dll v2.48.00.0455
fxmemap.vxd 4.11.01.0015
mm3dfx.drv 4.10.01.0017 (Main driver)
mm3dfx16.dll 4.10.01.0017
mm3dfx32.dll 4.10.01.0017
This config is by far the most stable i've tested in PCem so far and has the least glitches. A slot 1 Pentium II setup is much quicker but also unstable at least when ive tested. It will be in Windows and randomly crash when mounting a CD/image. It's also too fast for older games like Decent and Hioctane
I could have course just play the Kingpin remaster or build a machine in PCem with a Voodoo 3 and Pentium II but that's not how I remember playing games in ~1998 when I was 14.
I've pretty much filled an 8GB drive now with games I remember from my past. GOG has some terrible re-releases where they package games in DOSbox and they are nothing like the original.
Here's just a few of the games i've managed to get working perfectly (most using 3dfx) after many years. It was more the challenge of getting them working really. I'll create a vid for Youtube at some point
Atomic Bomberman
Hi-Octane
Toca Touring cars
Pro Pinball: Big Race USA
Forsaken
Ignition
Interstate 76
Mortal Kombat 4
Motorhead
Myth the fallen lords
Need for Speed 2 SE
Need for Speed 3
Quake (3dfx gl / GLQuake)
Specops: Rangers lead the way
Star Wars Episode 1 Racer
Tomb Raider
Take no prisoners
Unreal
Unreal Tournament
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Associate
I've never played it, at that time I didn't had a 3D card in my PC and when I got a new PC with a GF2, there were other games to be played. From your list I played Atomic Bomberman, such a fun game and you were able to play in two on the same PC. Good memories..
Doing a lot of overtime at the minute, no time to enjoy retro computing, but a good time to save some money. I only bought a few CPU heatsinks lately that I didn't had in my collection and this Voodoo 1 card today listed as parts https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255753920850 I'm not too optimistic that it's an easy fix, but at least I can add it to my collection as I never had a Righteous 3D card. If it works I want to hear that click, it got me really curious. But that will probably happen after Christmas madness stops...
You could play 4 on one keyboard in Atomic bomberman and a few games, another being Toca touring cars. One on numpad, one on cursor keys, IJKL and WASD.
It was a great laugh because if you held down 3 keys at once, no-one else could press anything and it meant everyone would crash!
You could time it perfectly by watching other split screens then holding down keys. Good times.Did you win that Orchid 3dfx card? Great buy if it really is only IRQ conflicts and not completely DOA. I'm very sceptical about 'parts only' no returns items where people say "may work" or "only an IRQ conflict" 90% of the time the parts of knackered otherwise they would be sold as used and go for 5x the price
Associate
I wish I knew about the keyboard hack, this game was so much fun.You could play 4 on one keyboard in Atomic bomberman and a few games, another being Toca touring cars. One on numpad, one on cursor keys, IJKL and WASD.
It was a great laugh because if you held down 3 keys at once, no-one else could press anything and it meant everyone would crash!
Yes, I bid 30£ and won the auction, I though it will sell for more.
I doubt it will work, even the traces on the chip look a bit damaged. Maybe they used a faster system, I know Voodoo 1 cards don't like fast systems. If I have some some time off I'll try test it out. If it doesn't work, it will a bit more expensive display card.
Soldato
I decided to build my Slot 1 PC as I don't really have space for an AT PC at the moment, I only have space for one retro PC and that needs to be hooked up to my 1440p screen via HDMI/DVI.
I've ordered an 850MHz 100FSB CPU to replace the 450 as that is weakest link in the system really.
I have a choice between a Matrox G450, 440MX or a 9550 for video cards with DVI out. I've got 440 at the mo as it benched faster in DX7 games.
I started off just using the onboard ESS Solo1 chip for Windows and DOS but I've now put in my QuickShot MAD16 card for DOS only which works fine, I just need some way of mixing the two audio outputs (for now this is a 3.5mm splitter!). However I've just realised that I can use my SBLive! Purely for Windows instead of the ESS easy enough alongside the Mad16 for DOS. This is the first time I've had multiple sounds cards in use successfully!
For once I'm using a HDD, a 120 capped to 32GB, so I have plenty of space for all my DOS and GOG games.
It's pretty much silent thanks to the modern PSU. No -5v rail needed here.
I'm now going to browse eBay for some games.
I've ordered an 850MHz 100FSB CPU to replace the 450 as that is weakest link in the system really.
I have a choice between a Matrox G450, 440MX or a 9550 for video cards with DVI out. I've got 440 at the mo as it benched faster in DX7 games.
I started off just using the onboard ESS Solo1 chip for Windows and DOS but I've now put in my QuickShot MAD16 card for DOS only which works fine, I just need some way of mixing the two audio outputs (for now this is a 3.5mm splitter!). However I've just realised that I can use my SBLive! Purely for Windows instead of the ESS easy enough alongside the Mad16 for DOS. This is the first time I've had multiple sounds cards in use successfully!
For once I'm using a HDD, a 120 capped to 32GB, so I have plenty of space for all my DOS and GOG games.
It's pretty much silent thanks to the modern PSU. No -5v rail needed here.
I'm now going to browse eBay for some games.