Anyone else collect old graphics and sound cards?

[NamelessPFG]

Over the last few years, I've been seeking out particular PC components to build classic gaming PCs with. So far, I have the following...

Graphics:

-some crappy Trident 2 MB PCI VGA card
-STB Voodoo2 12 MB (Works respectably for MW2:31stCC's Glide 1 version, which is why I have it.)
-3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP (I haven't had a chance to test this one out just yet, but I hope it works and can coexist with the Voodoo2 for older Glide titles.)
-ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500 128 MB (I'm keeping this for TRUFORM experimentation and possibly video capture purposes, at least 'til I can get something better for the latter.)
-ATI Radeon 9600 XT
-ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB (I don't know if the core's R350 or R360 yet. Was originally slated for my Athlon XP 3200+/Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe setup, but got displaced by my find just below. Now I'm wondering if anyone else has a use for it.)
-eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra AGP, dual-slot HSF (Found this in a graphics card bin for $30, and it worked! Not bad for what was once a top-of-the-line, $500 card.)

Sound:

-some ESS AudioDrive SB knockoff that doesn't play well with Tyrian 2000
-Creative Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold ISA
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Value
-Turtle Beach Montego II (Now I have an idea of what the big deal about Aureal A3D was...)

Yes, I know some of those graphics cards are rather recent, but five or six years is still an eternity as far as computer hardware goes. As for sound cards, I don't have many, but I've got most of what I want already-just need to find a Gravis Ultrasound with the AMD InterWave chip now, maybe a Roland CM-32 or LAPC-I, and that should do it for my vintage sound device collection. (As for more recent stuff, my flagship box has an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude, but given that PCI slots are being phased out, I might have to spring for an X-Fi Forte in a few years and move the Prelude down to the XP 3200+ box.)

Now I just need a couple of Pentium III boxes in the 750 MHz and up range to put some of this hardware in...anything slower, and the Voodoo5 5500 and Radeon 8500 will be bottlenecked (especially the V5 with its lack of HT&L). Anything much faster (Athlon XP on up), and those cards will be the big bottleneck instead. They'd also have to play nicely with Windows 98 SE.

[microsoft windows]

I used to have a bunch of old 933Mhz Pentium III machines.

[EverythingIBM]

My 300GL is pentium 3, not sure if it's 500 or 700 Mhz.

You have a voodoo 2 & some good soundblasters hey? Those are great. You need some of that old hardware to specifically run certain older games. Really good ones at that.

Rayman 2, mask of eternity, glover, hexen 2, and bugs & taz time busters use voodoo 2 if I'm not mistaken. Although glover (PC version) is one picky game for graphics. I end up running it in low-res graphics. Don't play it much anymore anyhow.

Windows 98SE is great for the older games in my opinion. I run it on all my older machines.

[Phaedrus2129]

I don't really collect, but I have some one or two old ones laying around. I had a Radeon 9800 Pro, but I traded it for an X1300 for the lower power consumption and quieter fan (this is in my Athlon XP rig). Otherwise a 7300GT and 8600GT, and everything else is fairly recent.

[ch_123]

I have a video card from some early PC or XT compatible system. That's about it.

Collecting old CPUs is far more interesting.

[microsoft windows]

My 300GL is pentium 3, not sure if it's 500 or 700 Mhz.

You have a voodoo 2 & some good soundblasters hey? Those are great. You need some of that old hardware to specifically run certain older games. Really good ones at that.

Rayman 2, mask of eternity, glover, hexen 2, and bugs & taz time busters use voodoo 2 if I'm not mistaken. Although glover (PC version) is one picky game for graphics. I end up running it in low-res graphics. Don't play it much anymore anyhow.

Windows 98SE is great for the older games in my opinion. I run it on all my older machines.

I never really liked the 700Mhz Penium III's. The 933's are much better. They sure beat the crap out of the G3's Apple was selling at the same time.

SCPGA2 Pentium III's went up to 1400Mhz. They were good CPU's too.

[gr1m]

I have a Pentium 4 rig that uses SDRAM. Has a Radeon 9250SE. Before that, a Rage card that I had to upgrade to a 9250SE so that I could play Need For Speed: Underground. That's about the oldest I think. There might be a Pentium 2 computer.

[NamelessPFG]

My 300GL is pentium 3, not sure if it's 500 or 700 Mhz.

You have a voodoo 2 & some good soundblasters hey? Those are great. You need some of that old hardware to specifically run certain older games. Really good ones at that.

Rayman 2, mask of eternity, glover, hexen 2, and bugs & taz time busters use voodoo 2 if I'm not mistaken. Although glover (PC version) is one picky game for graphics. I end up running it in low-res graphics. Don't play it much anymore anyhow.

Windows 98SE is great for the older games in my opinion. I run it on all my older machines.

Some games are very picky indeed; that's why I'm keeping all these parts in the first place. Many will run on my Q6600/8800 GT/Win7 64-bit box with a bit of compatibility mode and ALchemy fidgeting, but others won't work right no matter what. Fortunately, those games run on my XP 3200+/6800 Ultra/XP Home SP3 box without issue, but I want to be prepared for those that aren't. Unfortunately, my other PCs are in the Pentium II 233 MHz to AMD K6-2 350 MHz range, which won't be of much use beyond DOS games and maybe the less demanding Win9x titles.

I certainly didn't know that Rayman 2 and Glover had PC ports; figured they were N64 games. Hexen II is OpenGL and has source ports (id Tech 1/Quake, after all), so that's not a problem. Not familiar with the others.

I have a video card from some early PC or XT compatible system. That's about it.

Collecting old CPUs is far more interesting.

CPUs are largely the same to me, even with all the different slots/sockets, instruction sets, and whatnot, thus I'm not particularly interested in collecting them.

About the only thing I have that's remotely interesting because of the CPUs are my dual Mendocino Celeron 533s topped with Thermaltake Golden Orbs and loaded into an Abit BP6. The problem I have with that setup is that I can't think of a good use for it that doesn't involve a major capacitor overhaul and socket adapters for Coppermine Pentium III use. Each CPU is rather slow by itself, lacks SSE, and have their multipliers locked DOWNWARDS, making it impossible for me to lower the multiplier enough and raise the FSB to 100 MHz rather than 66 MHz for greater performance. (Note that Mendocino cores generally hit a wall at around 580 to 600 MHz.) Anything that could use both CPUs is likely asking for an Athlon 64 X2 or Core 2 Duo at the least, save for Quake III Arena.

[microsoft windows]

I have a Pentium 4 rig that uses SDRAM. Has a Radeon 9250SE. Before that, a Rage card that I had to upgrade to a 9250SE so that I could play Need For Speed: Underground. That's about the oldest I think. There might be a Pentium 2 computer.

Is your P4 a willamette?

[EverythingIBM]

Is your P4 a willamette?

Bah! Yeh need teh get yehself a Prescott laddeh.

Some games are very picky indeed; that's why I'm keeping all these parts in the first place. Many will run on my Q6600/8800 GT/Win7 64-bit box with a bit of compatibility mode and ALchemy fidgeting, but others won't work right no matter what. Fortunately, those games run on my XP 3200+/6800 Ultra/XP Home SP3 box without issue, but I want to be prepared for those that aren't. Unfortunately, my other PCs are in the Pentium II 233 MHz to AMD K6-2 350 MHz range, which won't be of much use beyond DOS games and maybe the less demanding Win9x titles.

I certainly didn't know that Rayman 2 and Glover had PC ports; figured they were N64 games. Hexen II is OpenGL and has source ports (id Tech 1/Quake, after all), so that's not a problem. Not familiar with the others.

CPUs are largely the same to me, even with all the different slots/sockets, instruction sets, and whatnot, thus I'm not particularly interested in collecting them.

About the only thing I have that's remotely interesting because of the CPUs are my dual Mendocino Celeron 533s topped with Thermaltake Golden Orbs and loaded into an Abit BP6. The problem I have with that setup is that I can't think of a good use for it that doesn't involve a major capacitor overhaul and socket adapters for Coppermine Pentium III use. Each CPU is rather slow by itself, lacks SSE, and have their multipliers locked DOWNWARDS, making it impossible for me to lower the multiplier enough and raise the FSB to 100 MHz rather than 66 MHz for greater performance. (Note that Mendocino cores generally hit a wall at around 580 to 600 MHz.) Anything that could use both CPUs is likely asking for an Athlon 64 X2 or Core 2 Duo at the least, save for Quake III Arena.

The PC versions of Rayman 2 & Glover were actually highly superior (it was the opposite, the N64 versions were ported from PC -- a lot of people don't know that though, which is strange seeing as the PC versions were plastered all over at futureshop and staples). In fact, Glover PC featured a soundtrack via redbook audio by Alister Brimble -- which was horridly butchered in the N64 version. Nintendo 64 had very horrible MIDI (Although Koji Kondo wanted MIDI to dynamically change the music so it smoothly transitions rather than changing a track -- they can now do this without the use of MIDI however on the wii).

Yeah, emulation can only do so much. It's so much easier just to use the native hardware.

I've used the voodoo3 on a few games though, that was a decent card (although wasn't it a 2D/3D all-in-one card?).

[TheSoulhunter]

Not really collecting, but I kept my P1 75MHz and the 3dfx Monster 3d (1st Voodoo) for the lulz...
Also still have a lot old PC games (with boxes) like Duke Nukem 3d, Quake, Command and Conquer, GTA or Half Life!

[microsoft windows]

I've got some old cames too. Got the original Railroad Tycoon and SimCity.

[InSanCen]

Working 386/SX-40 sitting in my loft. I still have a Voodoo1 (MaxiGamer 3D), and a couple of 2MB Matrox Mystique cards there as well. and a Nice paperweight in the form of my first HD, a 5MB Seagate.

[microsoft windows]

5MB hard disk?

That's got to be a full-heighter.

[InSanCen]

Yup, Full height, 5.25"

[microsoft windows]

Nice!

[gr1m]

I also have a Soundblaster Live! 24-bit in that same P4 rig.

[microsoft windows]

What speed is that P4? Is it a Willamette or a Northwood? I haven't seen too many P4 mo-bo's taking SDRAM.

[gr1m]

1.7GHz.

[EverythingIBM]

I've got some old cames too. Got the original Railroad Tycoon and SimCity.

I always go bankrupt in sim city. I prefer something like theme hospital or caesar 3.

Working 386/SX-40 sitting in my loft. I still have a Voodoo1 (MaxiGamer 3D), and a couple of 2MB Matrox Mystique cards there as well. and a Nice paperweight in the form of my first HD, a 5MB Seagate.

Some 300PLs came with an integrated matrox mystique 2 MB card; upgradable to 4MB.

Yup, Full height, 5.25"

What could you possibly use a 5MB hard drive for? Almost nothing would fit on there, except text documents.

[microsoft windows]

You could fit a very old version of DOS on it.

[microsoft windows]

1.7GHz.

Sounds like a Willamette.

[InSanCen]

Some 300PLs came with an integrated matrox mystique 2 MB card; upgradable to 4MB.

These have the 2MB Upgrade sitting in the box next to them. HP Field Spares, fancy Anti-Static packaging and all.

[EverythingIBM]

These have the 2MB Upgrade sitting in the box next to them. HP Field Spares, fancy Anti-Static packaging and all.

Well if you ever have the "rainbow runner" upgrade for the matrox mystique, let me know.

[doornail]

I was one of the eleven people who foolishly bought a Voodoo Rush thinking that a newer, more expensive card from 3Dfx would actually be faster than the Voodoo 1.

I still have it in the basement somewhere.

[Pylon]

I still use a Willamette P4 box with a Riva TNT2 in it.

[NamelessPFG]

EGA Wonder? I don't have anything nearly that old...

(Nor would I care too much for IBM PC hardware of that vintage. That's the timeframe where I would rather be hunting down Amiga hardware...if I can ever find one around here. Or, if I really wanted to hurt my wallet, a Sharp X68000 or Fujitsu FM Towns.)

[InSanCen]

I'll break out my Tseng ET4000 at some point. Old School 8bit ISA FTW!

[zmurf]

I have a old Matrox G450 PCI gfxcard from late 2001 somewhere... hardly a collection, but at least Its starting to become old enough to be called vintage...

Its actually the most modern gfxcard I own. I haven't had a stationary workstation since -98.... And I got that card for my server that I used to have back then.

[Sakom]

I have a SB Live! 16, (original) Audigy, (original) X-fi, and now the X-fi titanium that I'm pulling out to sell.  I'm tired of it causing this crackling/distorted audio every few days when you load several apps that need sound.  The only way to solve that is to shutdown all programs and switch sound modes in the control panel.  

I guess I'm stubborn and took a while to learn.

[ch_123]

Amateurs...

Show Image

Pfft. I have an original Monochrome adapter somewhere or other. Couldnt be bothered to find it and take a photo of it.

[zmurf]

G450 is nowhere near vintage, my friend (I have the AGP version - dual head, 16MB per). Vintage would be 8088-386 era and prior...anything newer than that but older than late-model P4 is just "outdated", in some cases rather severely.

Yeah yeah... that's why I wrote "starting to become"... its not vintage yet. But it will be.. some day... the years just fly by you know....

Come to think about it, I also have a Picasso IV... It's a little bit older. But you won't be able to use it in any standard IBM compatible computer.

[NamelessPFG]

Come to think about it, I also have a Picasso IV... It's a little bit older. But you won't be able to use it in any standard IBM compatible computer.

Picasso...retargetable graphics for Amigas with Zorro slots, IIRC?

[EverythingIBM]

Yeah yeah... that's why I wrote "starting to become"... its not vintage yet. But it will be.. some day... the years just fly by you know....

Come to think about it, I also have a Picasso IV... It's a little bit older. But you won't be able to use it in any standard IBM compatible computer.

You can still buy the AGP one here:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=G450-AGP-CO-R&cat=VCD

I actually asked Kishy about obtaining one, so it's kind of ironic you bring them up. I used to be a big fan of matrox way back when. The french must have the best gfx cards after all.

[zmurf]

Picasso...retargetable graphics for Amigas with Zorro slots, IIRC?

Yepp...

You can still buy the AGP one here:

Yes. But that isn't the same card since mine is a PCI

Anyway. Someone asked if there where anyone else that collected old gfx cards and sound cards. And I answered. Sure, one card is not a collection, but Its still an old card. I would not consider a 9 year old card new, even if you can get new card based on the same chip. And surly you can say that in 10-15 years the Matrox G450 will be considered a vintage card since it then will be an old card of undoubtable good quality.

There's nothing remotely special about the card. It's got a heatsink, it gets hot. Two heads, woop de doo...that said, if you need to put dual monitors on something older, no sense buying a brand new card.

No arguing there... there's nothing special with it. But there's nothing special with most 25+ year old gfx cards either. They are old... and I wouldn't even call the most of them vintage since the most of them was crap even when they where sold.

[zmurf]

There's nothing remotely special about the card. It's got a heatsink, it gets hot. Two heads, woop de doo...that said, if you need to put dual monitors on something older, no sense buying a brand new card.

No arguing there... there's nothing special with it. But there's nothing special with a 30+ year old gfx card either. They are old... and I wouldn't even call the most of them vintage since the most of them was crap even when they where sold.