TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Trekkie4]

I don't miss that aspect...that huge CRT monitor I had weighed way too much...but...I had another one, brand new from Future Shop at the time (long time ago...around 15-20 years back)...I spent $450ish CAD on a "flat" CRT, I think it was 19"...well...I brought it home, so psyched, hooked it up, got about 20 minutes or so of Quake or something in before it shut off and wouldn't turn back on again. I had purchased an extended warranty (scam) on top of the price...I was a teen, and this was a lot of money for me to have saved on my own. Anyway...I contact Future Shop, and they tell me I have to ship the monitor back to manufacturer...and pay for shipping, possibly both ways. Keep in mind the weight of these things, that I just purchased it brand new with an extended warranty. So...being a teen unable to drive with a crumby family, I had no way to deal with it other than bringing the thing back to Future Shop myself with all the paper work...so...I put it in a shopping cart...and took a bus an hour across town...to return it. They wouldn't take it. I wanted to ram that heavy thing through their front display window. I took it all the way back home and kept if for a couple years and looked at it out of sadness until I finally got the nerve to send it to the recyclers. I did get some people to help me return it several times, and got the same runaround each time.

Oh, I had that HD CRT TV, must have weighed around 130lb, same with a 36" standard def TV I had...well in the 130lb range. I am also in the 130lb range, so imagine me lifting those things lol I did though.

TLDR - CRT monitors are far too heavy to deal with in most cases, but I had a doozy of a time with one in particular.

There, I actually found the pic from back in 2004...


The one on the left (obviously lol), with Logitech QuickCam on top. The very same QuickCam from yesterday, now paired with ADI 4P

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

There, I actually found the pic from back in 2004...

All the remotes lol That's a balling setup from back then. I had a prebuilt HP with a Celeron lol Shortly after though, I really got into computers and built an MSI Mega 651 system with Pentium 4 HT (only 533MHz FSB on that mini system), and had it hooked up to an 800x600 Epson projector on a 130" inch screen, as well as that HD CRT TV, it was a Panasonic something rather, and I can't remember what monitor. That might have actually been around 2004, now that I think about it. No way I have any photos of it from back then, though. Here's what that MSI Mega 651 looked like though...I'd love to find another one...came with a remote, and a bunch of cool features. Could use any CD/DVD drive as a CD player without powering on the main PC. It fit a decent GPU too, I think I had a crappy FX 5700 or something, can't recall.

(not my photo)

EDIT- yeah, that was definitely around 2004, I remember building it for Doom 3, which came out in 2004. I remember my friend seeing Doom 3 on the HD CRT, and he eventually got it for his Xbox thinking he was playing the same game and going on and on about the graphics and stuff lol

 

[Trekkie4]

All the remotes lol That's a balling setup from back then. I had a prebuilt HP with a Celeron lol Shortly after though, I really got into computers and built an MSI Mega 651 system with Pentium 4 HT (only 533MHz FSB on that mini system), and had it hooked up to an 800x600 Epson projector on a 130" inch screen, as well as that HD CRT TV, it was a Panasonic something rather, and I can't remember what monitor. That might have actually been around 2004, now that I think about it. No way I have any photos of it from back then, though. Here's what that MSI Mega 651 looked like though...I'd love to find another one...came with a remote, and a bunch of cool features. Could use any CD/DVD drive as a CD player without powering on the main PC. It fit a decent GPU too, I think I had a crappy FX 5700 or something, can't recall.

View attachment 246172
(not my photo)

EDIT- yeah, that was definitely around 2004, I remember building it for Doom 3, which came out in 2004. I remember my friend seeing Doom 3 on the HD CRT, and he eventually got it for his Xbox thinking he was playing the same game and going on and on about the graphics and stuff lol

Oh, yeah! Even today, I remember each & every remote I had. From left to right - Sharp HiFi Stereo, Hauppauge TV Tuner card remote (you can actually see the remote sensor, attached to previously-mentioned 19" ADI monitor), Daewoo VCR (right under the remotes & flatbed scanner), LG VCR (the one on the right, silver unit) and last but not least - JVC VCR (the one on the right, black unit)

By the way, that's a sweet looking system! (MSI Mega PC). Looks pretty much like a standard mini HiFi ... I always wanted to get myself one of these but never found one. Not for a reasonable price, that is.

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

Oh, yeah! Even today, I remember each & every remote I had. From left to right - Sharp HiFi Stereo, Hauppauge TV Tuner card remote (you can actually see the remote sensor, attached to previously-mentioned 19" ADI monitor), Daewoo VCR (right under the remotes & flatbed scanner), LG VCR (the one on the right, silver unit) and last but not least - JVC VCR (the one on the right, black unit)

By the way, that's a sweet looking system! (MSI Mega PC). Looks pretty much like a standard mini HiFi ... I always wanted to get myself one of these but never found one. Not for a reasonable price, that is.

I paid quite a bit for that system...but the barebones came with motherboard, case, and PSU, and was about $340ish CAD, again, if my memory serves. So really not that bad. The CPU was like, $500 or something, the most expensive CPU I ever bought. I initially bought an even more expensive one, but since I was new to building, I overlooked the 533FSB and got an 800FSB CPU...luckily the store I got it from allowed me to return it for a small restocking fee even though it was open. What were you using all the VCR for, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Trekkie4]

(...)

What were you using all the VCR for, if you don't mind me asking?

Not at all! Guess I might as well answer your question without the fear of FBI or TV networks


I would copy some (most) of the VHS tapes I could get my hands on. Mostly the well-known movies and/or TV series such as Star Trek (considering I'm "Trekkie", not much surprise there, huh?). For personal use only, I never sold any of the tapes or used them for profit. I simply wanted (and enjoyed) the freedom of watching my favorite movies & TV shows when & as often as I wanted.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Not at all! Guess I might as well answer your question without the fear of FBI or TV networks


I would copy some (most) of the VHS tapes I could get my hands on. Mostly the well-known movies and/or TV series such as Star Trek (considering I'm "Trekkie", not much surprise there, huh?). For personal use only, I never sold any of the tapes or used them for profit. I simply wanted (and enjoyed) the freedom of watching my favorite movies & TV shows when & as often as I wanted.

You scoff-law you!! Naughty, naughty boy!

 

[Trekkie4]

You scoff-law you!! Naughty, naughty boy!

Even now, I still have more than enough VCRs to keep me busy & entertained for at least the next 20 years or so, although my "pirate" days are long gone & forgotten. Arrr!

That being said, I still prefer physical media over streaming & similar digital "wizardry", so I'm more likely to watch a DVD, VHS or play the cassette tape (or vinyl record) than to stream online content on my phone or laptop. In fact, I recently got my hands on a complete "Outlander" DVD box, from Seasons 1 to 5...

 

[lexluthermiester]

That being said, I still prefer physical media over streaming & similar digital "wizardry", so I'm more likely to watch a DVD

Right there with you. I prefer disc's to streams.

VHS or play the cassette tape (or vinyl record) than to stream online content on my phone or laptop.

Not with you on that one. CD's and DRMFree MP3's are my music jam!

In fact, I recently got my hands on a complete "Outlander" DVD box, from Seasons 1 to 5...

Nice. I got the whole MagnumPI series on DVD recently myself.

Still one of my favorite TV shows from the 80's.

 

[Trekkie4]

Not with you on that one. CD's and DRMFree MP3's are my music jam!

I may not agree, but I certainly understand. Vinyl & component (HiFi) setup is probably the most expensive way to enjoy music, and I often found myself spending more money than I intended or could afford. Still, there is something about pure analog signal and ability to affect the sound one way or another either by tinkering with tone controls on the amplifier or swapping out different phono cartridges & seeing which one sounds the best to you. Or even changing between several of them, I just swapped the headshell on my turntable earlier today!

Nice. I got the whole MagnumPI series on DVD recently myself.
View attachment 246196
Still one of my favorite TV shows from the 80's.

Sweet! Personally, I was never much of a fan myself, but I absolutely adore that late 70s and early 80s vibe in Magnum & other, similar TV shows such as Miami Vice. You can't get any better than that IMHO

 

[lexluthermiester]

I may not agree, but I certainly understand. Vinyl & component (HiFi) setup is probably the most expensive way to enjoy music, and I often found myself spending more money than I intended or could afford. Still, there is something about pure analog signal and ability to affect the sound one way or another either by tinkering with tone controls on the amplifier or swapping out different phono cartridges & seeing which one sounds the best to you. Or even changing between several of them, I just swapped the headshell on my turntable earlier today!

You've got a nice vinyl player and thus can get a quality experience, most aren't like that.

Sweet! Personally, I was never much of a fan myself, but I absolutely adore that late 70s and early 80s vibe in Magnum & other, similar TV shows such as Miami Vice. You can't get any better than that IMHO

True! My next DVD TV Series hunt is for Night Court.

 

[Trekkie4]

You've got a nice vinyl player and thus can get a quality experience, most aren't like that.

True! My next DVD TV Series hunt is for Night Court.

Well, it may not be a real Technics SL-1210 (I had to draw a line somewhere, the real thing costs approx. 1,400$ which was too rich for my blood thank you) but thanks - it really is a nice one! Took me a while to decide whenever I want to invest into decent phono setup or not but seeing that prices were ... and still are on the rise due to world-wide crisis, for once I did the right thing & bought it! And that was before Covid ... from what I've seen recently, the same model today is approx. 50% more expensive and mostly unavailable or sold out

 

[oobymach]

Cleaned up my psp a bit, still in good shape, glad I got the logitech case for it. (click to enlarge)

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

I can post photos of my retro game collection on here, if you guys want, and it's allowed. I haven't been collecting since COVID, and a bunch of games (just the "junk" games I planned to use as trade fodder, mostly) were stolen from storage, but I still have a few hundred games and a bunch of consoles and a few handhelds, including a PSP 1000. I used to have it all connected simultaneously through a bunch of switch boxes I shoved inside a custom case I made for them all (the switch boxes, not consoles). And switches to go from CRT to LCD TV when I wanted. I try to have the best video cable type that isn't SCART or actively converting. I got most of my consoles quite a long time ago when the prices were at about the cheapest. I got my PS2 for $40 CAD and it came with 38 games or something...and two Sony Dual Shock and two Sony mem cards. I got my Xbox for $10 CAD. I don't really have anything rare...maybe a couple games (Obscure for PS2 is probably my rarest). My Sega Saturn is my fav console but only have a few games...but I have the Sega light gun and Virtua Cop and Area 51 and a few others. I have a bunch of retail box PC games, but my small collection of big box games were stolen from storage. I still have the og Rainbow Six Gold, but that's it. Everything else on PC is either lose disc, or more recent where they are DVD or dual DVD size. Just before Steam kind of wrecked that....physical PC games. My consoles and games are still on display, but if I am honest, I haven't played any of them in ages.

 

[Audioave10]

The "Show us your Collections" thread is best for that. We want to see your collection!

 

[Dinnercore]

Haven't posted in a while, I got kinda scammed and had to take a break from it all for a moment. Story is, I saw a REX up for sale and everything looked good, sold as working on ebay and the seller showed it running etc.. So I jumped at it, blinded by the chance to finally get a Rampage Extreme.
However the seller never showed a picture of the socket. All pictures were with a CPU installed. If I wouldn't have been so excited that would have raised a flag for me. Well, even after another guy who bid on it pulled back his bid I did not question it.

The board showed up and it did not post. Turned on but nothing else. I took the CPU out and nearly had a heartattack, many pins were bend. 3-4 were really bad but only one was in a critical spot, the area towards the RAM where VTT and memory data lines run.
I was really torn on either sending it back or keeping it and trying to fix that socket. The chance to finally have this board was too good to pass so I fixed the socket with a lot of slow and careful work. It does finally work now and I'm happy about that but also a bit exhausted about the whole ordeal.

I still need to change the thermal pads and paste, I ran out of pads and have to order some first. But I'm happy I got this running reliably again. Last one of these I saw for sale was the offer from Japan that Luumi sniped.

 

[Trekkie4]

Haven't posted in a while, I got kinda scammed and had to take a break from it all for a moment. Story is, I saw a REX up for sale and everything looked good, sold as working on ebay and the seller showed it running etc.. So I jumped at it, blinded by the chance to finally get a Rampage Extreme.
However the seller never showed a picture of the socket. All pictures were with a CPU installed. If I wouldn't have been so excited that would have raised a flag for me. Well, even after another guy who bid on it pulled back his bid I did not question it.

The board showed up and it did not post. Turned on but nothing else. I took the CPU out and nearly had a heartattack, many pins were bend. 3-4 were really bad but only one was in a critical spot, the area towards the RAM where VTT and memory data lines run.
I was really torn on either sending it back or keeping it and trying to fix that socket. The chance to finally have this board was too good to pass so I fixed the socket with a lot of slow and careful work. It does finally work now and I'm happy about that but also a bit exhausted about the whole ordeal.

View attachment 246292

I still need to change the thermal pads and paste, I ran out of pads and have to order some first. But I'm happy I got this running reliably again. Last one of these I saw for sale was the offer from Japan that Luumi sniped.

That's a really nice motherboard you got there, @Dinnercore With all the heatsinks, start button & color theme, it reminds me of high performance engine, inside the sports car.

So guys, speaking of old hardware ... back on topic. I'm doing a complete overhaul of one of my earlier (and oldest) builds from around 5-6 years ago. Not "Adison" related, this one literally just sat inside the closet for years, doing nothing. Therefore it needs a lot of TLC - as you can probably imagine. Both optical drives are shot, CMOS battery dead and everything was covered in dust. So I've decided to take it easy & address one issue after another, starting with the case itself - everything was taken apart, washed in hot water & will eventually be put back together again. I also need to replace the PSU and brighten up the yellowed face plate.

Eventually I'll have to replace TEAC W540 drive which seems to be beyond repairs, and take care of additional few bits & pieces. But until then there's a lot of work to be done. I can take couple of shots if you guys are interested but keep in mind that we're mostly talking individual parts at the moment, it's like the entire case blew up across the room, spewing components everywhere

In the meantime, here's the very same system as it was back in 2015:

 

[MaxiPro800]

So far I've been working on the "driver repository" side of my BE6-II build, using it as a testbed as well to test stability. So far I still get occasional hangs but not as much as the old BIOS chip caused. I replaced the original BIOS chip (W29C020C-90U) with a newer one pulled from a ECS KT266A mobo (labeled W49F002U12BN) and so far I've got it to work rather well. It still locks up from time to time if I leave it unattended (it seems to have done that while I was away talking to someone about a batch of GPUs, GF4 Ti4600 included!) but a restart has fixed that, it seems.

Still not sure if it's the VRM being slightly tired from the 1100MHz Coppermine, but I'll see what happens over time. I'm just happy it doesn't act up so bad now, but instead it's useable. I can't wait to get my hands on a GF4 Ti4600 to replace the Radeon 7500 I'm currently using (its XP performance is atrocious, and that's with OMEGA drivers installed.)

 

[Outback Bronze]

I got kinda scammed

Good story matey. I'm sure we've all got a story to tell along those lines.

Well done on getting the board up and running!

 

[68Olds]

So far I've been working on the "driver repository" side of my BE6-II build, using it as a testbed as well to test stability. So far I still get occasional hangs but not as much as the old BIOS chip caused. I replaced the original BIOS chip (W29C020C-90U) with a newer one pulled from a ECS KT266A mobo (labeled W49F002U12BN) and so far I've got it to work rather well. It still locks up from time to time if I leave it unattended (it seems to have done that while I was away talking to someone about a batch of GPUs, GF4 Ti4600 included!) but a restart has fixed that, it seems.

Still not sure if it's the VRM being slightly tired from the 1100MHz Coppermine, but I'll see what happens over time. I'm just happy it doesn't act up so bad now, but instead it's useable. I can't wait to get my hands on a GF4 Ti4600 to replace the Radeon 7500 I'm currently using (its XP performance is atrocious, and that's with OMEGA drivers installed.)
View attachment 246305

One of my favorite video cards was a PNY Ti4400. I think it was paired with a 1.6GHz Willamette back then. I used to use CoolBits to overclock it past Ti4600 clocks.

Good luck on your batch of GPUs & here's hoping that the Ti4600 is a winner.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Got a Palit GTX260 Sonic 896mb Core 216

All of my other 260s are blowers so I figured I'd get an open air. I don't see these cards very often, especially in USA.

Card works perfectly. What I find amusing is these 260s outpace my gtx 295 with SLI off.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I was really torn on either sending it back or keeping it and trying to fix that socket. The chance to finally have this board was too good to pass so I fixed the socket with a lot of slow and careful work. It does finally work now and I'm happy about that but also a bit exhausted about the whole ordeal.

Been there, I feel you on that. It can be nerve racking for sure. Glad you got it working and sorted out. Elbow-grease and some TLC can work miracles!

 

[MaxiPro800]

Well, I now know what case I might be sticking my Ti4600 build in. 22 years of being lost after my dad sold it to a (now dead, unfortunately, cause of death being pneumonia), it is now time to come home.

Case is an Key Mouse/KMEX CX-6459 case. As far as I know, this could very well be the only example of it left in my country, if not the entire Europe.

From what I've gathered with the seller, these are the (rather vague) specs it ended up with:

-1.8GHz Intel chip
- unknown mobo (though I suspect an ASUS, considering the sticker on the front)
- 2x DVD drives (Hitachi-LG and what I think is a NEC/Optiarc)
- 160GB SATA + 80GB IDE HDD
- 3GB worth of DDR2
- 450W Modecom PSU (which I might or might not reuse, depending on who OEM'd the insides of it)
- Windows 7 (unknown version)

All in all, I'm happy that I can finally reunite with my childhood's computer, even if it has undergone major upgrades (mind you, this started as a Celeron 300).

 

[Trekkie4]

Well, I now know what case I might be sticking my Ti4600 build in. 22 years of being lost after my dad sold it to a (now dead, unfortunately, cause of death being pneumonia), it is now time to come home.

View attachment 246334

Case is an Key Mouse/KMEX CX-6459 case. As far as I know, this could very well be the only example of it left in my country, if not the entire Europe.

From what I've gathered with the seller, these are the (rather vague) specs it ended up with:

-1.8GHz Intel chip
- unknown mobo (though I suspect an ASUS, considering the sticker on the front)
- 2x DVD drives (Hitachi-LG and what I think is a NEC/Optiarc)
- 160GB SATA + 80GB IDE HDD
- 3GB worth of DDR2
- 450W Modecom PSU (which I might or might not reuse, depending on who OEM'd the insides of it)
- Windows 7 (unknown version)

All in all, I'm happy that I can finally reunite with my childhood's computer, even if it has undergone major upgrades (mind you, this started as a Celeron 300).

We all have that special case, monitor or something to remind us of people who are no longer among us. For what it's worth, I know exactly how you feel and I can imagine how thrilled you are (were) to find & own that case once again

I've had & maintained my Adison obsession for almost 15 years - if someone had told me that all of the sudden I would find 6 of them (and again - I couldn't even find a SINGLE one) I'd think they're either delusional or friggin' crazy!

 

[MaxiPro800]

KME cases aren't really hard to find. But that specific CX-6459 model, believe me, I'd be crazy if I'd say another one would exist. And yet, I've seen people have it in a silver flavour (which IMO doesn't fit the theme of it) on this very forum. Forgot which user was it but it was a rather low power machine, just like this. Except the case was silver.

And you know what's the funniest part? I bet the CRTs I've had on it (Dell Ultrascan P1110 and after that one sadly broke, I had a Viewstar 775CB, not counting the billion other CRTs that my dad ever tested the living bejeezus out of inbetween those two - Samsung Syncmaster 15 GLe, and NEC Multisync 3V 15' SVGA CRTs being two I remember the most, along with a Fujitsu Siemens 1705 with bad caps and a SOLAR branded CRT that blew its neck straight into my face cheeks when I tried a refresh rate higher than 60hz (which it barely managed to keep anyways, not to mention it was magnetised as all hell) would be FAR more easier to find than the case itself. And I wish I'd be joking. One of those CRTs would probably show up at a ridiculously low price, with the sacrifice being my spine going into thermonuclear meltdown (and I would love to do that for the Dell alone.)

 

[Trekkie4]

KME cases aren't really hard to find. But that specific CX-6459 model, believe me, I'd be crazy if I'd say another one would exist. And yet, I've seen people have it in a silver flavour (which IMO doesn't fit the theme of it) on this very forum. Forgot which user was it but it was a rather low power machine, just like this. Except the case was silver.

And you know what's the funniest part? I bet the CRTs I've had on it (Dell Ultrascan P1110 and after that one sadly broke, I had a Viewstar 775CB, not counting the billion other CRTs that my dad ever tested the living bejeezus out of inbetween those two - Samsung Syncmaster 15 GLe, and NEC Multisync 3V 15' SVGA CRTs being two I remember the most, along with a Fujitsu Siemens 1705 with bad caps and a SOLAR branded CRT that blew its neck straight into my face cheeks when I tried a refresh rate higher than 60hz (which it barely managed to keep anyways, not to mention it was magnetised as all hell) would be FAR more easier to find than the case itself. And I wish I'd be joking. One of those CRTs would probably show up at a ridiculously low price, with the sacrifice being my spine going into thermonuclear meltdown (and I would love to do that for the Dell alone.)

I hear you. For what it's worth, at least you have the luxury of knowing for sure who made it & under which model number. Because in my case, there was no brand name or number ... other than the company which assembled all the components & sold the entire system. I have a sneaky suspicion that mine was manufactured by "Codegen" (because it came with pre-installed Codegen PSU) but that's open for debate. And I never found any information on the metal frame, which would indicate who made the damn thing.

As for finding CRTs being "easier" option, don't be too sure... I'm on a lookout for a specific CRT myself (Shamrock C-509DA, 15") and I can't seem to fine one ANYWHERE. I still got my own from back in a day, but it would seem that the flyback transformer blew up, so now I'm either on a lookout for the replacement donor unit or (more likely) flyback compatible with 509DA. Needless to say, all the links, part numbers & catalogs are long gone &/or dead, so it's me against the whole world