The Post Your Old/Retro Builds Thread

[Mazzspeed]

My C64 complete with the 1541 Ultimate II+ which includes not only dual emulated 1541's with S-JiffyDOS ROMs and 40k RAMBoard expansions, but also includes dual emulated 4 channel SID's and the ability to playback Amiga MOD files in perfect clarity as well as a ramdisk and a 16MB REU expansion and a hardware Ethernet networking stack. It also has far more features, way too many to mention here.

I'm also running a WiFi user port WiModem, for when I log into BBS's using VT100 software 80 column emulation under Swiftlink. And an SD2IEC modern HDD implementation off a 32GB SD card with multiple partitions. Running the JiffyDOS kernel 6.01 with the extended CMD-HD commands, modified by myself.







The recently released Sam's Journey is so addictive. the gameplay, colour and sound are amazing:

 

[pendragon1]

My C64 complete with the 1541 Ultimate II+ which includes not only dual emulated 1541's with S-JiffyDOS ROMs and 40k RAMBoard expansions, but also includes dual emulated 4 channel SID's and the ability to playback Amiga MOD files in perfect clarity as well as a ramdisk and a 16MB REU expansion and a hardware Ethernet networking stack. It also has far more features, way too many to mention here.

I'm also running a WiFi user port WiModem, for when I log into BBS's using VT100 software 80 column emulation under Swiftlink. And an SD2IEC modern HDD implementation off a 32GB SD card with multiple partitions. Running the JiffyDOS kernel 6.01 with the extended CMD-HD commands, modified by myself.

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The recently released Sam's Journey is so addictive. the gameplay, colour and sound are amazing:

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is it just me or is that a totally rip off of mario 3? looks great for a c64 game but someone might get their panties in a bunch...

 

[Mazzspeed]

is it just me or is that a totally rip off of mario 3? looks great for a c64 game but someone might get their panties in a bunch...

If that was the case, every platformer could be a rip of Mario 3.

Having said that, there is the recently released Super Mario Bros 64, which is an exact rip of the Nintendo version (and I mean exact) - That did get Nintendo all fired up. Didn't stop the community from spreading it however.

 

[Zepher]

This one of mine I slapped together a year or so ago.
AMD Phenon II X4, 4GB Ram, EVGA GTX 285, Matrox RT.X100
Running Windows XP SP3.

Another old parts machine is this one,
modded Xeon 771 X5640
Gigabyte board
6GB Ram
250GB WD Blue SSD
EVGA GTX 1050
EVGA 1050 PSU
Corsair 465X case with 6x LL120 fans, Commander Pro, and a couple of LED strips
Running Windows 10.

This machine was used as a browsing PC in my bedroom that I sometimes used before going to bed,

 

[Mazzspeed]

I'm currently restoring an Atari 600XL, this was my buy of the decade as PAL variants fetch a fortune and I got this for a steal!

Keyboard all reconditioned, it's the desirable variant and has a really nice tactile feel. I retrobrighted the white part of the casing and sanded/polished the worn console keys and cartridge doors. Also performed the chroma/luma mod for a really good quality svideo output - So good it looks digital.

I've ordered a 64k upgrade as well as an Ultimate 1MB and a SIDE3 cartridge for PBI HDD support via CF card.

 

[Mad Maxx]

Found some pics of my old computer setups. The only thing that's still in use to this day is my 20-year old Galant desk.

 

[Killahurtz]

Abit VP6 2 x PIII 1ghz @1140mhz ( recapped ) , Voodoo 5500 AGP , dual boot W2K pro / XP pro , 2 gig Infineon memory , 3 x 18g scsi raid 0 , Kenwood TrueX 72x (the fastest CDR ever made)

and yes...a Sony 21" Trinitron

 

[Mazzspeed]

My Amiga 1200.

- 68030 overclocked to 40Mhz (corresponding overclock on fast ram, just can't remember the exact speed).
- 128MB of fast ram.
- 2MB chip ram.
- AGA chipset.
- Indivision AGA MkIICr for the most crisp 1280x1024 Workbench you've ever seen via DVI.
- 8GB CF IDE HDD.
- AmigaOS 3.1.
- WHDLoad for HDD installation of all games and demos.
- iGame front end for launching WHDLoad games and demos.
- 8GB CF card for transferring files from PC to Amiga via a CF to PCMCIA adapter.
- WiModem232 for connecting to many different BBS's via Term 4.8.

 

[Killahurtz]

Abit BE6 i440BX , PIII 700 flip chip on Abit Slotket slot 1 adapter, Voodoo 3 3500TV , I forget the mem , creative sound plays period games crispy

 

[70 Polara]

Does my ridiculously low-buck daily driver count as retro yet?

I've been running this system for quite some time now, and it never ceases to amaze me what I can actually play on it at 720p/768p. I have beaten Metro Exodus plus add-ons, Wolfenstein New Colossus, Far Cry 5 + New Dawn, Doom 2016, RE3 and more. I built the entire system for less then $100 by scrounging ebay, looking for local deals, and using a few freebie parts. It runs well enough that for my usage patterns I see no immediate need to upgrade, though someday I'll piece together a used Ryzen platform upgrade or maybe something like a Dell T3500 X58 platform. I also recently transplanted my parts into a old Dell Dimension 4700 case that was given to me as the case I originally used was very flimsy. Though I realized after taking the pic that for whatever reason Dell made the rear fan blow into the case WTF? So I just fixed that..........

Acer/Gateway DIG43L LGA775 motherboard (software overclocked): $21 shipped
Intel Xeon E5440 CPU + LGA 771 to 775 adapter sticker: $11 shipped
Lenovo CPU cooler: $12 shipped
8GB PC2-6400 memory: $14 shipped
AMD Radeon R7 250 2GB GDDR3 bios overclocked: $12 shipped
Seagate 2TB SATA HDD: $27 from Craigslist
WD VelociRaptor 160GB HDD: free
TP-Link wireless card: free
Lenovo 280W ThinkCentre ATX power supply: free
SATA DVD-RW drive: free
old Dell Dimension case: free

Long live Socket 775!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[zpackrat]

Looks like you should call it "Commercial Break".

Abit VP6 2 x PIII 1ghz @1140mhz , Voodoo 5500 AGP , dual boot W2K pro / XP pro , 2 gig Infineon memory , 3 x 18g scsi raid 0 , Kenwood TrueX 72x (the fastest CDR ever made)

and yes...a Sony 21" Trinitron

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[Mr. Bluntman]

My newest build:

Intel DX58SO "Smackover" motherboard
Intel Xeon W5580 @ 3.2GHz (4c/8t)
3x2GB DDR3-1600 @ 9-9-9-24 2T
2x nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Maybe it's me, but I like 'em better in the 790i Ultra SLI... You be the judge.

 

[Starfalcon]

Well I finally had some time today to pull a couple rigs out and get pics of them. First one is a duallie Supermicro Socket 8 Pentium pro rig. Second one is a Micron socket 3 system.

 

[Starfalcon]

Ill have to dig some more out tomorrow and see what else interesting I can find in my hoard.

 

[Red Falcon]

if its ddr or newer, its not retro, its just old...

The 'retro' identifier classifies any computer manufactured at or over 15 years as being retro, so at this point, DDR2 computer systems and older are retro.
Next year, the earliest DDR3 computer systems will be classified as retro as well.

I mean, if you want to show off a few computer systems and arcade boards running bubble memory and one-up us all, go for it!

lol no. isnt that a sata cable?
edit: oh, the old one jammed above the floppy. if it has sata, its not retro.

SATA-1 dates back to 2003, which is well beyond the retro classification specification, so SATA-1 and SATA-2 are definitely retro at this point.

thats not retro either, just old. get back into the 90s and earlier for retro.

Considering it is 2021 as of this post, anything from 2006 and earlier is classified as retro.
That means the NVIDIA G80 and Sony PS3 will be retro come November - feel old, yet?

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Considering it is 2021 as of this post, anything from 2006 and earlier is classified as retro.
That means the NVIDIA G80 and Sony PS3 will be retro come November - feel old, yet?

Yeesh, I can barely believe it's been that long already... Time hasn't exactly flown by, but it's still a little surreal when I think about it.

 

[pendragon1]

The 'retro' identifier classifies any computer manufactured at or over 15 years as being retro, so at this point, DDR2 computer systems and older are retro.
Next year, the earliest DDR3 computer systems will be classified as retro as well.

I mean, if you want to show off a few computer systems and arcade boards running bubble memory and one-up us all, go for it!


SATA-1 dates back to 2003, which is well beyond the retro classification specification, so SATA-1 and SATA-2 are definitely retro at this point.


Considering it is 2021 as of this post, anything from 2006 and earlier is classified as retro.
That means the NVIDIA G80 and Sony PS3 will be retro come November - feel old, yet?

ok. pretty sure we went through this a month ago...

 

[Starfalcon]

Okay here are some more systems fopr your viewing pleasure. This first one is an ancient computer rescued from my old job at hollywood video, it even has a cool hollywood video case badge. It is a socket 7 based system, on a previously unknown tomato board that now I know what it can take in the socket and have the info on thanks to the awesome Auntjemima. This originally was just a network boot system with a modem in it and no drives. Was in the process of getting it going as a normal computer years ago but couldnt figure out what it supported and the jumper settings. Now hopefully I can get this system up and running again nearly 20 years after I got it.

 

[Starfalcon]

Okay next one is even more interesting. First cool thing about it is that it has a 12 speed 5 disc Panasonic CD changer in it. Sadly it has yellowed extremely badly....it used to be a light grey when I got ita long time ago. Now the case says Asus on the badge, but that is not what is inside of it. Plus this case has a really cool slide out motherboard tray.

This has my awesome Tyan Trinity board inside it, the one you can use either a socket 370 P3 or a Slot 1 P3. It has currently a 800 P3 Slot 1 cpu in it along with some other cool stuff. Starting at the top is the Hercules GF2 Ultra card, then a Mator ATA 133 IDE card, then below that is a Diamond Monster sound MX300, and lastly a 3Com network card.

One of my more interesting systems I have currently, Ill see if I can dig out some more cool duallie systems for tomorrow.

 

[Format _C:]

The 'retro' identifier classifies any computer manufactured at or over 15 years as being retro, so at this point, DDR2 computer systems and older are retro.
Next year, the earliest DDR3 computer systems will be classified as retro as well.

I mean, if you want to show off a few computer systems and arcade boards running bubble memory and one-up us all, go for it!


SATA-1 dates back to 2003, which is well beyond the retro classification specification, so SATA-1 and SATA-2 are definitely retro at this point.


Considering it is 2021 as of this post, anything from 2006 and earlier is classified as retro.
That means the NVIDIA G80 and Sony PS3 will be retro come November - feel old, yet?

I love this I'm also on a vintage appliance forum and one member said "Vintage gets newer every year" which is true to a point as some one called their 1988 range with a digital clock oven display (which is a Vacuum Fluorescent Display my favorite type of display) vintage!
LoL!

 

[pendragon1]

yeah it does move as time goes on. my train of thought was that retro was like classic, 25 and older. mid 90s rock is now call classic, so i figure mid 90s pcs are retro. like how retro gaming has moved up into the 90s. other things are classed as retro at 20-30yrs.

 

[Format _C:]

yeah it does move as time goes on. my train of thought was that retro was like classic, 25 and older. mid 90s rock is now call classic, so i figure mid 90s pcs are retro. like how retro gaming has moved up into the 90s. other things are classed as retro at 20-30yrs.

My favorite one is cars!
In Connecticut a year 2001 can get "classic vehicle" plates so I now see late 1990s Civics (usually with paint can size exhaust pipes!) Camry's Accord and the like!
Also Emmisions tests are not required for cars <1996 as they don't want to maintain the dynometer or the up the tail-pipe test machines and the OBD II vehilces bascually test themselves and sometimes cheat at that *COUGH* Volkswagon/Audi *COUGH* I better get my cough checked out don't worry I don't have that over-hyped media name virus.

 

[pendragon1]

My favorite one is cars!
In Connecticut a year 2001 can get "classic vehicle" plates so I now see late 1990s Civics (usually with paint can size exhaust pipes!) Camry's Accord and the like!
Also Emmisions tests are not required for cars <1996 as they don't want to maintain the dynometer or the up the tail-pipe test machines and the OBD II vehilces bascually test themselves and sometimes cheat at that *COUGH* Volkswagon/Audi *COUGH* I better get my cough checked out don't worry I don't have that over-hyped media name virus.

damn, my old cavalier is a classic now!! should kept that baby! lol yeah i guess it wildly varies by things and places.

 

[70 Polara]

I changed my retro rig around, mostly so the parts would fit in a matching Dell Dimension case I had. Now my daily and retro systems match in ancient Dell cases lol - yeah it's a sickness.

I wasn't completely happy with my P4 based retro system and wanted something more period correct (P3 based).

New build consists of:
Trigem Lomita Socket 370 motherboard
Tualatin core Celeron 1300MHz CPU w AVC cooler
256MB of PC100 memory
Nvidia Quadro NVS55 64MB DDR PCI video card w DVI output (basically a Geforce FX5200)
SoundBlaster Live PCI sound card
Twin WD 10GB IDE hard drives - Samsung IDE CD-RW drive
Dell 305W ATX power supply
Windows 98SE

So far this system works great and seems to be more stable with some of the really old DOS games I have tried vs running them on the P4 system. I think the P4 was just too fast. Currently playing through GLQuake!!!!!!!

 

[LightningCrash]

I finally got a Q500! Now I can recreate the beast I had in 2002...
Seller's picture:

 

[Red Falcon]

I love this I'm also on a vintage appliance forum and one member said "Vintage gets newer every year" which is true to a point as some one called their 1988 range with a digital clock oven display (which is a Vacuum Fluorescent Display my favorite type of display) vintage!
LoL!

yeah it does move as time goes on. my train of thought was that retro was like classic, 25 and older. mid 90s rock is now call classic, so i figure mid 90s pcs are retro. like how retro gaming has moved up into the 90s. other things are classed as retro at 20-30yrs.

LOL, ok ok, you both are making me feel bad!
Everywhere I had read about 'retro' computer tech, since the term was coined in the early 2010s, was that computers 15 years and older are considered retro.

Perhaps because the computer industry advances much more quickly than other industries, thus the time frame is lowered?
Yeah, I wouldn't consider a car from 2006 to be 'retro' in the least, but a C2D rocking 2GB DDR2 RAM and a GeForce 8800 GTX - you bet your @$$ that's retro!

Since we need a bit more tech from the 1990s, here's a fun one from the mid-90s that I fully upgraded a few years ago and turned into a file sharing (SMB) and Apache HTTP server:







To quote myself from a while back:

This is the SPARCstation 5, from 1994 running NetBSD 7.0.1!
The system is not running with the usual microSPARC-II CPU, normally clocked from 50-110MHz, but is running with the upgraded TurboSPARC at 160MHz.

I have also upgraded this system to 256MB of ECC FPM DRAM (in 168-pin DSIMM modules), and two Seagate Savvio 73GB 10000RPM HDDs; soon to be running in RAID1.
Also present is the SBUS TGX+ 4MB 8-bit frame buffer, SBUS SCSI-2 and 10/100 NIC combo card, and SBUS SCSI-2 card.

Two blue cold cathodes and a custom blue 40mm full-height CPU fan has also been added, which replaced the original noisy half-height fan of which the bearings had worn out.
I have also attached two Sun 411 external modules through SCSI-2 (10MB/s), featuring a Seagate Hawk 2.1GB 5400RPM HDD in the bottom unit, and a Matsushita 32x CD-ROM drive in the top unit.

 

[Starfalcon]

Okay here is more of the collection I am feeling IBM today and promised another duallie. First on the block is my IBM PC 365, another socket 8 pentium pro system. Its pretty much stock except for the second cpu and the CD drive I put into it. For cards just a basic S3 video, IBM EES audidrive sound card, and 3Com network card. I like the front on this desktop, as it has a cool sliding cover that hides all the 5.25 bays and the floppy making it super stealth. Only thing you see besides the branding when it is closed is the power button.

It is a riser system , but it does cram a lot of system in the form factor. Plus I like that they put all the jumper settings and board info on a sticker on the inside of the cover. After years of googling jumper settings, I wish this was more common.

 

[Starfalcon]

OKay and second for the day, esp since I was already in an IBM mood, I present my IBM PS/2 50 system. A cool retro system with the rare red PSU switch on it. Unfort the hard drive has died, taking all the setup files with it, and I couldnt be bothered trying to get it running again.

The layout on these systems are pretty strange by modern standards, the hard drive and floppy drive plug into backplanes with a card edge connector. Plus you need a special terminator card for the unused floppy space. Plus it uses that wonderful MCA slots that barely anything is available for and is crazy priced like sound blaster cards.

 

[Starfalcon]

For tomorrow, think Ill make it socket 7 saturday and see what interesting systems I can rustle up. Then I think I will do Slot 1 sunday after that, but who know what Ill come up with for monday. Its been fun doing this, plus everyone gets to finally see my hoard Once all my systems are done, then I guess its time to go through the motherboards, still have lots of systems to go through though.

 

[Format _C:]

I finally got a Q500! Now I can recreate the beast I had in 2002...
Seller's picture:

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Nice I had one back in 2000 when I built my first PC! My father had a friend who painted cars for a living so he had him paint mine silver that was awesome a real powder coated paint job it was a shiny sliver too much better then my failed ratter can attempt before his friend saw it and laughed and then volunteered to paint it the "real" way
I think my was the Q500N what was the difference between the versions?

Okay here is more of the collection I am feeling IBM today and promised another duallie. First on the block is my IBM PC 365, another socket 8 pentium pro system. Its pretty much stock except for the second cpu and the CD drive I put into it. For cards just a basic S3 video, IBM EES audidrive sound card, and 3Com network card. I like the front on this desktop, as it has a cool sliding cover that hides all the 5.25 bays and the floppy making it super stealth. Only thing you see besides the branding when it is closed is the power button.

It is a riser system , but it does cram a lot of system in the form factor. Plus I like that they put all the jumper settings and board info on a sticker on the inside of the cover. After years of googling jumper settings, I wish this was more common.

Nice I miss the old PCs when they actually included a sticker inside of what was what, motherboards used to also some even had one you could stick on the rear IO panel. I think my last one that had either was an Intel branded LGA 775 board
My Ryzen has gold plated audio jacks which is a PITA as the manual is unclear on what jack does what even the built in IO shield is a dark color so hard to read, Oh Gigabyte boards are no longer my go to board as now they have no advantages like the Z97 and AMD AM3+ days they are all basically a like now they also dropped the GA- prefix like the older ones GA-Z97X-UD3H (my old board I used with my i7-4790K) to just X570 Aorus Elite (my current board)

 

[Starfalcon]

For todays viewing, I have 2 baby AT socket 7 systems. First one on the block is a FIC PA-2013 with a pentium 166 in it. Has a trident PCI video card, standard ESS audiodrive sound card, and a modem. The main reason I got this system back in the day is I though the case looked really cool, as a bonus I ended up with a nice socket 7 board in it too.

 

[Starfalcon]

Next one up in a pretty boring beige case is an AOpen AP53 with a pentium 200 MMX in it. This one has much more interesting cards in it. Have a matrox millenium 4 MB, an intel 10/100 network card, and another ESS audiodrive sound card. Man I have a lot of ESS audiodrive cards....

AOpen made some good boards back in the day, and I am glad I have this one. The hard drive had died on this one also so ended up getting pulled, and never got back to fixing it many years ago. Who knows, maybe Ill actually get it up and running again

 

[Starfalcon]

Well I figured I would throw in something special since its socket 7 saturday, one of my favorite sockets besides Socket A. This one doesnt look very interesting at all, just a standard beige box. Wait....what does that case badge say....K6III+...oh dang this one is very special.

 

[Starfalcon]

Okay well first sign this isnt your grandma's standard beige box, the huge hole cut in the side to get some airflow into this case. This one is into sleeper territory. You want to see the goodies inside? Yeah I do too, lets open this sucker up.

 

[Starfalcon]

First thing you notice is the big honking heatsink in the cpu, the K6III+ cpu. The second thing I am sure you noticed is there is no hard drive in it, yeah you think it died like several others. Nope, it was moved to the top for airflow to help keep all the insides cool. The board in there is an ultra awesome FIC VA-503+ super socket 7 board with 1 meg of cache onboard. With the K6III+ cpu in it that already has lvl 1 and 2 cache on it unlike most socket 7 cpus, you get some lvl 3 cache on the mobo, thats why this cpu was so awesome back in the day.

 

[JSHamlet234]

Next one up in a pretty boring beige case is an AOpen AP53 with a pentium 200 MMX in it. This one has much more interesting cards in it. Have a matrox millenium 4 MB, an intel 10/100 network card, and another ESS audiodrive sound card. Man I have a lot of ESS audiodrive cards....

AOpen made some good boards back in the day, and I am glad I have this one. The hard drive had died on this one also so ended up getting pulled, and never got back to fixing it many years ago. Who knows, maybe Ill actually get it up and running again

My AX6BC was one of the best motherboards I ever owned.

 

[Starfalcon]

Okay hurry up and get to the cards I hear you shouting, yeah I know, I am taking this slowly and savoring it. Okay got your standard ESS audio....oh not an audiodrive, an audio PCI, well thats a good change there. Plus we have a very strange AMD networking card, an AMD PCnet-Fast, seems like a good fit for an AMD system.

What about the video card you say, okay I guess I kept you waiting long enough. We have a happy Voodoo 5 AGP card in this system, because what else would you use in a K6III+ system? This system runs fast and used it for running a lot of my retro games for years, before GOG was a thing. Probably one of my favorite old skool systems I have. Hope you also enjoyed it

 

[JSHamlet234]

First thing you notice is the big honking heatsink in the cpu, the K6III+ cpu. The second thing I am sure you noticed is there is no hard drive in it, yeah you think it died like several others. Nope, it was moved to the top for airflow to help keep all the insides cool. The board in there is an ultra awesome FIC VA-503+ super socket 7 board with 1 meg of cache onboard. With the K6III+ cpu in it that already has lvl 1 and 2 cache on it unlike most socket 7 cpus, you get some lvl 3 cache on the mobo, thats why this cpu was so awesome back in the day.

That was a sweet setup. I still have 2 of those boards lying around and the earlier PA-2007 as well.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I finally got a Q500! Now I can recreate the beast I had in 2002...
Seller's picture:

View attachment 350204

I'd try to snap up that motherboard as well, it's an nForce 2 motherboard of some variation. They go for a premium on eBay.