What retro things have you done today?

I recently found this nice looking C64!
C64.jpg

Curiously the motherboard is a 1986 model which seems to be a rare revision among the C64's out there.

It boots into the OS just fine and runs games without issues :)
I also got a nice floppy drive with it:
C64Drive.jpg
 
I like the Dell SFF machines. Decent performance for dirt cheap with a few little upgrades.

Currently running a virtual pinball machine (just for testing parts) on a 755 with Q9650, 8gb ram, Radeon R7 250 1gb GDDR5 version and a 250gb SSD. It's not bad, needs more grunt in the graphics department really. If I was going to build this into a full machine, then I'd strip it out of the case and fit a better PSU and a 4gb RX470 or something along those lines.

Some other dinky machines worth a look:

Alienware Alpha and Alpha R2. Not cheap, but well worth it especially if you can get the AGA external GPU housing with the R2. The first release is quite limited, but still good enough, especially with the i7 option, 8 or 16gb and an SSD. Other half uses R1 as her home machine. Generally silent with her usage. My R2 is currently in bits... but was in use under the TV. Wasn't using the AGA, just the built in GTX960. It was fine.

Lenovo M93p i7 4770 - very dinky. Very expensive.

Now, for XP... Going to sound silly but some thin clients work really well, are available often very cheap and are tiny. WYSE Dx0Q, HP T620 (or the T620 Plus) for example.
 
LewisRaz said:
Those optiplex are interesting.. I was looking at getting a laptop for XP to be able to play my old games as I dont have room for my big beige boxes on my desk (and my monitor only has hdmi/dp). One of those optiplex with a better GPU seems like a good option if they are that small.
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100% agree with Flibster. I own a HP T610 which has been brilliant for XP gaming, the only upgrade is an SSD. Quake 3 at 1600x1200 etc runs great. It does run out of steam with some heavy weight sims - for example, the original Operation Flashpoint (2001) I find performance is reminiscent to back in the day (10-15 fps) on the most taxing missions. For pre 2000 games on XP, its very good.

AlmostStew - thanks for the heads-up on the 7470, will give it a go tomorrow and see what scores it returns.
 
Ninco! said:
100% agree with Flibster. I own a HP T610 which has been brilliant for XP gaming, the only upgrade is an SSD. Quake 3 at 1600x1200 etc runs great. It does run out of steam with some heavy weight sims - for example, the original Operation Flashpoint (2001) I find performance is reminiscent to back in the day (10-15 fps) on the most taxing missions. For pre 2000 games on XP, its very good.

AlmostStew - thanks for the heads-up on the 7470, will give it a go tomorrow and see what scores it returns.
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Might look into that. Would need a USB dvd drive but that sounds like the best solution. Although I am following a few pentium 4 laptops on eBay right now :)
 
I have a SFF HP PC in my loft that I just thought about. Went and had a quick look. Its a P4 with HT but no pci-e x16 only x1 and regular pci slots.

My only memories of PCI gpus back in the day was to avoid at all costs (when compared to agp). Is there a PCI gpu that could match this system or should I scrap it?
 
3dfx Voodoo Banshee
3dfx Voodoo 3 2000/3000
3dfx Voodoo 5 5500
ATi Radeon X1300
nVidia GeForce 6200
nVidia GTX 680

All available in PCI. Some significantly more expensive than others. 3dfx in particular.
 
The small form factor is limiting here as PCI and Low Profile and "not crap" is going to be hard to come by. It's a bog standard P4, but made even worse by not having an AGP slot, being an OEM build (so possibly with proprietary PSU) and being loud and hot due to the size; I'd strip it and scrap it or put the whole lot on Gumtree for a fiver.

You can get a retatil P4 or athlon cpu/ram/motherboard on eBay for about £12.
 
Ninco! said:
AlmostStew - thanks for the heads-up on the 7470, will give it a go tomorrow and see what scores it returns.
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It's pretty rubbish. Well, it depends how I look at it.

It's a new GPU (For a retro sub forum :P). I tested at 1280 * 1024 It gets 25fps at minimum settings in Just Cause 2; 58 in crysis; 16fps/s406 in Heaven on DX11 low; 22fps/s936 on Sactuary dx9 low. 3D Marks crash under windows 7 64 bit. The GPU is a big botleneck for the q6600 as the people in the GPU section told me.

However for old games I think it will be great. I'm testing that today.
 
Got old Gameboy Color out from the loft. They were in the box, and have been left there for years covered in thick dust. Cleaned up, and put new batteries and fired up. It still worked fine.
 
My 8600GT which I bought specifically because it was passively cooled is getting to 100c... Time to add some terrible active cooling. Triple or quad slot and I paid a £3 premium for the passive version in the first place. All this effort for a terrible card :D

QFJTgj2h.jpg
 
vanpeebles said:
Any piccies? I've had a number of SGI machines over the years :)
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Excellent, what have you had? I've only recently got into them, I like the idea of owning a somewhat rare piece of history! (plus some of the original cost was eye watering!)

I have a google photos dump of all pictures so far, but its a mess!

Will be tidying it once I'm all done.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SQveUHNVhuLKiFUT7
 
A few weeks back I purchased a Dell OptiPlex 7010 (3rd Gen Quad Core i5-3470 8GB) for cheap. Picked up a Dell AMD ATI Radeon HD 7470.

It came with Windows 10 as default. My long term plan is to downgrade to Windows XP.

Well, before formatting and installing XP, fired up and chucked a couple of GOG games to see how the Dell and Radeon performed. Installing NGlide, tried one of my favourite sims of all time - Nascar Legends is one.

It works a treat in Win 10! Even using an XBox 360 controller works brilliantly. I never knew Windows 10 with wrappers could play some older games so well!
 
Thought I hit the jackpot this morning at a car boot sale when I found an unboxed Megadrive Probotector cart. It wasn't until I got home that I realised that it was a bootleg :( Ah well, I paid what a bootleg was worth and it does work in my Megadrive, so at least I can still play it on the original hardware :)
 
ZombieFan said:
Thought I hit the jackpot this morning at a car boot sale when I found an unboxed Megadrive Probotector cart. It wasn't until I got home that I realised that it was a bootleg :( Ah well, I paid what a bootleg was worth and it does work in my Megadrive, so at least I can still play it on the original hardware :)
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So annoying!

At least you are not out of pocket

I had a nice bargain today - got a wii, 2 controllers, 2 nunchucks, charging dock and rechargable batteries, all wires, 10 games mostly shovelware but includes mariokart and mario party 8. £15. All accesories etc. Cleaned up lovely too.

My 2yo daughter has already had a crack at mario kart and found it hilarous that she can steer like in my car.
 
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