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10 year quest

Jorg

Jorg

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Messages
1,323
Location
Switzerland
.. but I finally was able to secure a Pentium I 200, non-mmx on ebay, for 3 bucks :)

Now I can finally upgrade my P90 (after I gave up 8 years ago :p)
 
oh man, do i ever sound like you!

my main internet computer is a pentium 166 running win95, and i am about to upgrade to somewhere around the pentium 300 area, as one of the fellow vintage comp. guys is giving me one for free.

maybe i will find out what all the fuss was about with win98 ;)

chris
 
I believe I pretty much maxed out my previous PC, a Socket 7 mobo running a Pentium 200MMX, 64 MB RAM (of which 32MB EDO DIMM) and a 3 GB hard drive. Theoretically I could've stuffed a better graphics card than the 2 MB S3 Virge DX/GX, better sound than the ISA Opti16 and better network than the ISA 3C509B, but all are within its generation specs. Officially the motherboard doesn't support newer CPUs than the one mentioned, and I'm not sure if it would let me play with some jumpers to get beyond that anyway. The computer now partly is stripped from parts, but most of it is left intact if I ever have the need to boot it.

When it comes to upgradable computers, I understand the original configuration is collectable (never mind how old it is - things get older by time). What about maximum official upgrade or maximum possible upgrade, will those kind of machines be worth less than original config?
 
I'd imagine that the upgraded machines (or the components used to upgrade) might appreciate in value or be more "collectable" due to rarity. My logic might be flawed here, but it seems to me that by the time you get the maximum upgrade for your system, there's probably something newer that's available. That being the case, I'd think that fewer components would be produced for the upgrades. I'd back that up with examples, but I can't think of any right now. :D
 
The only parts that have some value on 286 and newer machines would be the rare addon cards, and parts needed for gaming (sound and video).

A stock pentium will be common for many more years to come
 
I can't imagine any flavor of Pentium being collectible, now, or in the forseeable future, they're just too common. Possible exceptions might be laptops, which don't age very well, and, of course, the old original 60 MHz Pentium (I call it Pentium 0, since everyone insists on calling the second version "Pentium 1"). Especially collectible would be chips that have the floating-point bug, as very few of them survived the recall.

--T
 
I am also on a 10 year Quest...and it's almost finished. I already have all the major components collected, and I just have a few minor ones left to go. I'm sure several of you in here are already familiar with my EISA 486 project. I'm actually on a quest to build the ultimate 486, but the ultimate 486 turned out to be an EISA machine. When I am finished, I am going to build a webpage dedicated to it...then you guys can shit your pants. I'm using all the tricks in the book to make this thing fly. I hope you will be able to appreciate it, because it's burning a bloody hole in my pocket!!!
 
Anonymous Coward said:
I am also on a 10 year Quest...and it's almost finished. I already have all the major components collected, and I just have a few minor ones left to go. I'm sure several of you in here are already familiar with my EISA 486 project. I'm actually on a quest to build the ultimate 486, but the ultimate 486 turned out to be an EISA machine. When I am finished, I am going to build a webpage dedicated to it...then you guys can shit your pants. I'm using all the tricks in the book to make this thing fly. I hope you will be able to appreciate it, because it's burning a bloody hole in my pocket!!!
Click to expand...

Well.. tell us what you need?
 
Actually, I don't think you need to worry about it. Everytime I need a component I post an ad in the wanted section. However, since most of the parts I want are so obscure, nobody ever reponds to them. There are three components I have left to buy which are not critical. They are more of luxury items. I am looking for a Plextor 32X caddy loading drive with a beige bezel, a Seagate Barracuda 36ES2 SCSI drive based on IDE technology, and an NIB Gateway 2000 programmable keyboard manufactured by Maxi-Switch.
 
Terry Yager said:
I can't imagine any flavor of Pentium being collectible, now, or in the forseeable future, they're just too common. Possible exceptions might be laptops, which don't age very well, and, of course, the old original 60 MHz Pentium (I call it Pentium 0, since everyone insists on calling the second version "Pentium 1"). Especially collectible would be chips that have the floating-point bug, as very few of them survived the recall.

--T
Click to expand...

I had a IBM Amber (I think thats what the line was called)
It was a Pentium 60 with the bug. RAN HOT AS HELL.
I gave it to a friend and he chucked it in the trash.
I GAVE HIM ONE NASTY VERBAL BEATING.
Not because it has any value (Because im pretty sure it does not)
But beacause i never ever throw out good hardware.
I find it hard enough trying to throw out bad hardware as you just
never know when you'll need something off it.

Besides who cares if the computers worth money unless thats your only
goal. Myself i like, what i like and what i don't, I don't bother collecting
unless the price is right.

Noth'n wrong with a pen90. They are might sturdy computers
i still use a pen100 for a VPN gateway
 
The stuff I collect is not necessarily valuable, even though some of it may be kinda rare. (Mostly, I scour eBay and grab up every one-dollar laptop I see. The shipping on one is usually around fifteen buck$ tho, so it's still quite an investment). Some of what I have are machines that have just plain been overlooked by other collectors, so the prices have not been driven through the roof. I try to keep my eye out for "firsts" too, like the first notebook computer (Epson HX-20), first pen-enabled tablet computer (GRiDPad), first "wearable" computer (GRiD PalmPad 2360), or even the first PC-compatible portable to come with an LCD screen (VT Commuter Computer). To me, it's kinda like collecting baseball cards, where the "rookie" cards are the most desirable. If any of this stuff were truly valuable, I would not be able to afford it.

--T
 
Kaptain Skitzo said:
Any of those $1 laptops work?
Click to expand...

Almost all of 'em...ya never know with eBay, the one that goes for a dollar today might be 100.00 next week.
Last one I bought, $2.25 + 25.00 shipping, still awaiting delivery. (Pentium, 133MHz, 810Mb hdd, 32Mb RAM, needs a power supply.) I don't even bother bidding on the stripped-down, non-functional ones anymore...unless I need a certain one for parts.

--T
 
oh god it's a packard HELL!
out of the dozen or so i've seen only
one was'nt broken. i still have one of there crap boards
laying around here. one of the pci chips goes from
room temp -> 150 degrees in about 5 sec's

if your looking for a pretty good / cheap laptop check out
a (acer) TI extensa 5xxx. I got a 560cd model it has all the goodies
of the day. 1.2gb hdd, 40mb mem, swapable floppy / 4x-cdrom, sound & infered
the NI-MH battery was shot but it was easy to recell. BTW it came with
a pen75 however it's just a desktop cpu so yank it out and put a pen100
in it. Wont take anything higher. another cool feature is it has tabs at
the top of the keyboard you can take it out and see the guts in about 2 sec's
with no tools. i got mine for 22.05 total. It's always over looked so you can
win them easy most times.
 
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