TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[lexluthermiester]

Wow you must be the only

Not really, but I digress, we're getting off-topic..

 

[Trekkie4]

I'm completely the opposite. I miss tapes and never liked vinyl.

Wow you must be the only

Got to agree with Green on this one, vinyl really is one of the purest & most involving ways to play music. As far as I know, it's also the only source which allows you pretty much endless tweaking possibilities, allowing you to replace the heads (audio cartridges & styli) according to your personal taste & needs. Which would equal swapping out the laser pickups on a CD or tape heads on a tape deck.

As for tapes, I shall only quote the famous YouTuber by the name of Techmoan, and tell you how the "Cassettes are better than you don't remember"

Even the Normal, "Type I" tapes ... given that you have a proper Tape deck that's been cleaned & properly serviced, they could (and will) sound very good. I actually have a whole variety of tape decks, ranging all the way from the cheapest mechanical ones to super high end audiophile grade unit, and I can tell you from personal experience that the difference between the two is not as impressive as you'd expect. Noticeable yes, but definitely not day & night.

Not really, but I digress, we're getting off-topic..

Weelll, sort of. I guess most of us here would agree that the HiFi & audio gear could be considered "nostalgic hardware". Because it's certainly not "software", that would be the music itself

 

[Audioave10]

I used to own this Marantz two-speed cassette deck. Record at faster speed and the specs improved just about like Vinyl.

 

[Trekkie4]

I used to own this Marantz two-speed cassette deck. Record at faster speed and the specs improved just about like Vinyl.

Nice! I got something very similar, but it's made by SuperScope (by Marantz), and it's currently on top of my closet ... not sure if it runs or not. As for my "weapon of choice" that would be Pioneer CT91a, from 1989. Very nice unit, with all the bells & whistles you could ask for.


Sadly, I'm not using it as much as I'd want to. Mainly because I prefer vinyl, so given the chance (and free time) I shall almost always end up playing with the turntable, instead of tapes.

 

[Audioave10]

Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!

 

[Trekkie4]

Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!

Exactly! See, @lexluthermiester? We are not off-topic after all

 

[Greenslade]

Got to agree with Green on this one, vinyl really is one of the purest & most involving ways to play music. As far as I know, it's also the only source which allows you pretty much endless tweaking possibilities, allowing you to replace the heads (audio cartridges & styli) according to your personal taste & needs. Which would equal swapping out the laser pickups on a CD or tape heads on a tape deck.

As for tapes, I shall only quote the famous YouTuber by the name of Techmoan, and tell you how the "Cassettes are better than you don't remember"

Even the Normal, "Type I" tapes ... given that you have a proper Tape deck that's been cleaned & properly serviced, they could (and will) sound very good. I actually have a whole variety of tape decks, ranging all the way from the cheapest mechanical ones to super high end audiophile grade unit, and I can tell you from personal experience that the difference between the two is not as impressive as you'd expect. Noticeable yes, but definitely not day & night.


Weelll, sort of. I guess most of us here would agree that the HiFi & audio gear could be considered "nostalgic hardware". Because it's certainly not "software", that would be the music itself

I like techmoan he must have most the most Retro gear ever,his house must be like a museim.
Apart from Lex who has never liked vinyal,is he going to say he has one of these
boom boxes. *Beat it*
Heres are friend Techmoan

Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!

I got a floppy drive a few Months ago and 40 diskettes but never got round to using it yetI wish i had not bought so many of them.Plus the fact i will have a floppy drive in the Retro PC i am buying.I am not sure which one of the two to buy yet.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Got to agree with Green on this one, vinyl really is one of the purest & most involving ways to play music.

Records are just to large, fragile and the pop & clicks are too distracting & irritating. Tape never had those problems, were recordable, were very compact and portable. For me those features counted for a lot. CD's then took over as the HIFI quality default.

 

[Greenslade]

Records are just to large, fragile and the pop & clicks are too distracting & irritating. Tape never had those problems, were recordable, were very compact and portable. For me those feature counted for a lot. CD's then took over as the HIFI quality default.

There not that large 12 inches ,pops and clicks are part of the exsperance
Plus the fact they have some nice art work on a lot the albums you only have to look at the artwork on my Roger Dean Greenslade cover.That art work is lost on the CD version.
And you don,t have to strain your eyes to read the liner notes like you do on CD.s and tapes.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Apart from Lex who has never liked vinyal,is he going to say he has one of these
boom boxes

I had one, Panasonic dual cassette unit with digital tuner, detachable speakers and AUX inputs. Used it as an A/V stereo system for movies and gaming. But for tapes, I mostly had a portable Panasonic ultra slim.

Nice! I got something very similar, but it's made by SuperScope (by Marantz), and it's currently on top of my closet ... not sure if it runs or not. As for my "weapon of choice" that would be Pioneer CT91a, from 1989. Very nice unit, with all the bells & whistles you could ask for.

Pioneer was one of my favorite rack system makers. Onkyo was too!

Exactly! See, @lexluthermiester? We are not off-topic after all

My only concern is not straying too far. I'm not trying to mini mod. The idea is if we rope ourselves in, the mods don't and won't have to intercede.

 

[Trekkie4]

Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!

My only concern is not straying too far.

By the way, just so that we're not entirely off-topic here... From left to right, those are:

1. AMD Duron 950. I believe it had Asus A7A266 mobo
2. Intel 486, DX2 (66 MHz)
3. AMD Am5x86, 133MHz

(the ones on the right)
1. Pentium II 350, I believe it had QDI Brilliant Slot 1 mobo
2. Pentium III 550, it had a Abit BE6-II Slot 1 mobo

That being said, all of the builds from the photo above had been given away, sold and/or rebuilt into other projects. Therefore I still have some of these today (486 DX2, Am5x86, PII 350) but in different ... and hopefully more suitable layout

 

[Audioave10]

This AMD Sempron 3000 is the oldest chip I have and won't work in an AM2 board. This is strictly for Socket 754 mobo. 1.8Ghz

 

[Greenslade]

The power suply seems to be in a odd postion the power supply conections seem to be under it,and the heatsink is a bit under it?,it must be a special PSU,s so that would be a problem if ir needed to be changed.Can i use the same heatsink if i change the CPU?That case must be very small. The cpu i would install if i was to buy it.
Athlon XP (200 or 266MHz FSB). So like a 2600+ 266FSB.
It is a very odd size the PSU And a odd postion to put it in i have never seen a PSU faceing down like it does. The other PC does not look like it has a normal sized PSU

 

[68Olds]

I agree the PSU is in an odd position, but I don't think it is an odd size. It looks like a regular ATX PSU but turned on its side.

 

[Greenslade]

I agree the PSU is in an odd position, but I don't think it is an odd size. It looks like a regular ATX PSU but turned on its side.

But the PSU connection s seem to be under it and heatsink fan seems very close.Can you give me a link for the Ram i need to put in it if i am to update the cpu
Athlon XP (200 or 266MHz FSB). So like a 2600+ 266FSB.There is so many different versions of ram, looking at the prices it is a lot less than i thought. It has 128mb on on now.How much more Ram do i need for the 2600+ 266FSB cpu.

 

[Mr.Scott]

2 x 512 sticks of DDR 400.
Cheap and common.

 

[Greenslade]

2 x 512 sticks of DDR 400.
Cheap and common.

Thanks for that Scotty

 

[lexluthermiester]

I agree the PSU is in an odd position, but I don't think it is an odd size. It looks like a regular ATX PSU but turned on its side.

That's really all it is.

The power suply seems to be in a odd postion the power supply conections seem to be under it,and the heatsink is a bit under it?

It's ok. Just a different configuration from HP's design team.

 

[Trekkie4]

That's really all it is.

It's ok. Just a different configuration from HP's design team.

Agreed, I used to have tons of cheap, generic cases with sideways mounted PSU. It's not ideal because it overlaps the CPU (and most of the motherboard for that matter) so if you want to work on the actual board, inspect the caps or replace the CPU, you first have to remove the power supply which is of course time consuming process but that's about it really. Everything else is about the same...

These are some of my earliest photos uploaded here on TPU from way, way back on page 116 but you probably get the idea:

 

[Greenslade]

That's really all it is.

It's ok. Just a different configuration from HP's design team.

Do you think it is worth the extra money i would have to pay over the Hp.With the cpu and Ram upgrade top price £80 as opposed to less than £50 top price for the HP?
Is the 2600 worth the £30 extra over the 1800?

Agreed, I used to have tons of cheap, generic cases with sideways mounted PSU. It's not ideal because it overlaps the CPU (and most of the motherboard for that matter) so if you want to work on the actual board, inspect the caps or replace the CPU, you first have to remove the power supply which is of course time consuming process but that's about it really. Everything else is about the same...

These are some of my earliest photos uploaded here on TPU from way, way back on page 116 but you probably get the idea:

That is my point about it over lapping the CPU .It is not a good design .There is a lot of room further down the case.And i knew the PSU has to be removed for me to change the cpu as the Duron 1,3 is weak.At the end of the day it needs a bigger case.How do the caps look in there?.I have loads of time that is not a factor.
There is a bit of brown on the motherboard by the Capacitor near the PSU and bit on that cap.But can not see any bulging of the caps that i can see in the case.
I get your point there.Not a good design to over lap the motherboard.

 

[Trekkie4]

That is my point about it over lapping the CPU .It is not a good design .There is a lot of room further down the case.And i knew the PSU has to be removed for me to change the cpu as the Duron 1,3 is weak.At the end of the day it needs a bigger case.How do the caps look in there?.I have loads of time that is not a factor.

Well, that depends. The whole idea behind shifting the power supply sideways was to reduce the height. I actually had a full-size ATX "Midi" tower that was smaller - yes, smaller than a standard "AT" standard tower. Or even some of the mATX towers for that matter. From the outside it looked fascinating because it would seem impossible, but once you removed the side panel it all became apparent.

That thing was so cramped on the inside that I couldn't fit my hands in there to unplug the power supply from the board. Not to mention the whole thing was easily overheating, and transferring most of the heat on the side panels, so the whole thing would get really hot, it felt as if the whole thing was on fire. But from what I remember, I never had a cap issue inside one of those cases. That being said, I no longer have ANY of these cases with me, which kinda speaks for itself. Better to go bigger & taller, allow the components to breathe properly than to be cramped & worry about potential failures down the road.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Is the 2600 worth the £30 extra over the 1800?

Yes. Easily.

 

[Greenslade]

Well, that depends. The whole idea behind shifting the power supply sideways was to reduce the height. I actually had a full-size ATX "Midi" tower that was smaller - yes, smaller than a standard "AT" standard tower. Or even some of the mATX towers for that matter. From the outside it looked fascinating because it would seem impossible, but once you removed the side panel it all became apparent.

That thing was so cramped on the inside that I couldn't fit my hands in there to unplug the power supply from the board. Not to mention the whole thing was easily overheating, and transferring most of the heat on the side panels, so the whole thing would get really hot, it felt as if the whole thing was on fire. But from what I remember, I never had a cap issue inside one of those cases. That being said, I no longer have ANY of these cases with me, which kinda speaks for itself. Better to go bigger & taller, allow the components to breathe properly than to be cramped & worry about potential failures down the road.

I have seen videos of cases that looked like the one you describe and when you take the side panel off there is a lot less room in there.That is not good. Yes it does.
And to go for bigger cases.You don,t want it to get to hot on there.

Yes. Easily.

I just hope i am confident enough to take the PSU out and put the AMD CPU in there as i have never had an AMD cpu before.Will the heatsink on the cpu now. work with the new cpu?

I have seen videos of cases that looked like the one you describe and when you take the side panel off there is a lot less room in there.That is not good. Yes it does.
And to go for bigger cases.You don,t want it to get to hot on there.


I just hope i am confident enough to take the PSU out and put the AMD CPU in there as i have never had an AMD cpu before.Will the heatsink on the cpu now. work with the new cpu?

Lex and anyone else i have just seen this it seems to good to be true
Retro Vintage Packard Bell Pentium 4 Desktop Gaming Home PC with DOS Win 3.1

• Packard Bell UTOW-SUN PC

• Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz

• Processor - 1 x Intel Pentium 4 HT / 3.06 GHz

• RAM - Total of 2 GB (installed) DDR2 SDRAM

• Storage Controller - Serial ATA ( Serial ATA)

• Hard Drive - - standard - Serial ATA

• Optical Storage - DVDRW Drive

• 6 USB Sockets

“Working Packard Bell Desktop PC with formatted 80GB hard drive, and set up as a retro machine with DOS 6 and WIN 3.1 installed. Has working DVD ROM and DVD R/W drives, plus USB, Firewire ports and Card readers. Obviously these last don't work under DOS, but you could reinstall Win XP on the hard drive if you wanted these. Maybe make it a dual boot machine. Note that Win XP is not supplied. The computer supplied is the main unit only, no keyboard, mouse, monitor, and the outer covers are held in place with duct tape as the plastic clips are broken. See photos for cosmetic condition. Comes with the Packard Bell guides, DVD and Microsoft 8 license card as shown.”Price reduced as I need the space - surely a bargain for someone!
View attachment 248640
View attachment 248641
Model:
UTOW-SAN
View attachment 248643Brand:

Packard Bell. No. mention. of AGP?

Graphics Processor: Price £24? What do you think the case is in a bit of a sate
Does it have a AGP? Windows 3,1. Dos. ?
AMD Radeon Graphics
Firewire, USB 2.0

 

[lexluthermiester]

I have seen videos of cases that looked like the one you describe and when you take the side panel off there is a lot less room in there.That is not good. Yes it does.
And to go for bigger cases.You don,t want it to get to hot on there.


I just hope i am confident enough to take the PSU out and put the AMD CPU in there as i have never had an AMD cpu before.Will the heatsink on the cpu now. work with the new cpu?


Lex and anyone else i have just seen this it seems to good to be true
Retro Vintage Packard Bell Pentium 4 Desktop Gaming Home PC with DOS Win 3.1

• Packard Bell UTOW-SUN PC

• Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz

• Type - Personal computer

• Form Factor - Tower

• Processor - 1 x Intel Pentium 4 HT / 3.06 GHz

• RAM - Total of 2 GB (installed) DDR2 SDRAM

• Storage Controller - Serial ATA ( Serial ATA)

• Hard Drive - - standard - Serial ATA

• Optical Storage - DVDRW Drive

• 6 USB Sockets

“Working Packard Bell Desktop PC with formatted 80GB hard drive, and set up as a retro machine with DOS 6 and WIN 3.1 installed. Has working DVD ROM and DVD R/W drives, plus USB, Firewire ports and Card readers. Obviously these last don't work under DOS, but you could reinstall Win XP on the hard drive if you wanted these. Maybe make it a dual boot machine. Note that Win XP is not supplied. The computer supplied is the main unit only, no keyboard, mouse, monitor, and the outer covers are held in place with duct tape as the plastic clips are broken. See photos for cosmetic condition. Comes with the Packard Bell guides, DVD and Microsoft 8 license card as shown.”Price reduced as I need the space - surely a bargain for someone!
View attachment 248640
View attachment 248641
Model:
UTOW-SAN
View attachment 248643Brand:
View attachment 248644Packard Bell. No. mention. of AGP?
View attachment 248645
Graphics Processor: Price £24? What do you think the case is in a bit of a sate
Does it have a AGP? Windows 3,1. Dos. ?
AMD Radeon Graphics
Firewire, USB 2.0

Perhaps we should move the system hunting discussion to it's own thread..

Tech Power Up Hardware Purchase Advice

The whole purpose of this thread is for users to seek help searching for computer systems new and old, for any purpose. Please use the "Reply" button whenever possible to reduce confusion for new users. Forum rules apply so let's all be friendly and helpful! (Note to mods, sorry for starting...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Where do you guys find retro gear besides eBay?