You know you're a hoarder when you find...

[Adam_151]

I saw this thread a while back and wondered if the Pentium overdrive was still in the battered old box in the shed. It was and it had friends

That IBM CPU brought back memories.

IIRC, It was a clone of a Cyrix chip, that IBM was allowed to make under license as part of a deal where Cryix CPUs were made in IBM fabs?

Cost effective upgrade in '96, just not much good for playing quake

 

[Werewolf]

A book on MS DOS from 1998.

I'm not sure, but I think I still have a copy of "Upgrading and fixing PC's for dummies. 2nd Edition!" on the shelves somewhere, IIRC bought in about 95 when it was just released.

Not quite as bad*, but i've also still got, and use a PC "tool kit" from about the same time in a pouch, for those that weren't alive back them are too young to remember, it included a chip puller as that was back before zero insertion force sockets and when you had to lever CPU's and often RAM models out of push in sockets, none of this namby pamby lift the lever to release the clamp nonsense.


*It's not hoarding when it's a tool, it's prudence.

 

[Malevolence]

... an ADSL router in my loft

I keep a spare one up in my attic, just in case the one I'm currently using goes down and I need a quick fix until I buy a new one.

 

[Malevolence]

A book on MS DOS from 1998.

Not MS DOS, but also from 1998.

 

[ttaskmaster]

... an ADSL router in my loft
a box of cpus including an athlon xp
a crib (my youngest is now 21!)
a cassette mix tape

You're not a hoarder until:

- The stuff you have was last seen in 1977.
- You know you have it, somewhere, in amongst all the other stuff, but can't find it.
- You can't find your back door or your bed, because there's too much stuff in the way.

 

[decto]

That IBM CPU brought back memories.

IIRC, It was a clone of a Cyrix chip, that IBM was allowed to make under license as part of a deal where Cryix CPUs were made in IBM fabs?

Cost effective upgrade in '96, just not much good for playing quake

The great computer markets at Trentham Gardens or Bowlers in Manchester were the most common source of parts back then. Stall after stall of random chips sold from the tray... none of this fancy retail box malarkey. I assume it was the same around the country. You'd do a couple of laps, mentally calculating a build from best pricing offered on each part or any bundles and then another lap to buy everything.

Then CPU performance would double in 6 months or less.

Cyrix / IBM were cheaper but relied on a PR rating as the clock speed was typically slower than the Intel equivalent... then as you say, Quake pretty much killed them overnight, at least from a gaming perspective.

I can sort of justify keeping these around.

Spoiler

But then I also have this...... Just in case.

Spoiler

 

[cheesefest]

I have 3 video tapes but never had a video player in the 14 years I lived here.....

 

[MikeTimbers]

In clearing out my house after selling it I also found

A DistributedFolding 3.5" disk (how many of you know what that is!)
An AIX2.2 CD (which I think dates from the mid-80s)
A SCSI DAT drive and controller plus tapes
Five 5.25" CD or DVD drives