Retro x86 PC eBay Deals

[boxpressed]

I thought I'd start this thread to post interesting and/or bargain retro PC (x86, mostly) eBay deals.

 

For anyone looking for a 486 machine, here is a good candidate. You will need a lot of space!

 

This is a box that was put together by a retro PC enthusiast (uses a CF card for storage). Very clean looking. Magnificent tower case with LED and turbo button, VESA local bus video and Promise I/O card.

 

The seller does not appear to be the one who put the system together. The only thing I would worry about would be the seller packing poorly and the case cracking.

 

I'd buy it myself if I had the room and didn't already have too many retro PCs.

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 331961422687

[Keatah]

Myoda? Is that from that chopshop computer store in Hoffman Estates?

[boxpressed]

Logo looks the same to me.

[AtariLeaf]

I don't know what shipping shows up for you USA folks but it shows up as $159 for me which is a total of $259 or about $333 Canadian. Not exactly a cheap solution for me. Plus I'd never trust the sellers ability to pack something like this for that exciting romp though our combined postal systems and that wonderful customs agency.

[Osgeld]

Yes shocking it cost more to export it to another country

[Osgeld]

Lol @ k yes it's a rather generic looking fare to say the least

Edited September 6, 2016 by Osgeld

[boxpressed]

Personally, I like the generic AT cases, especially the enormous towers. They symbolize an era of DIY computing that was eventually replaced by ubiquitous Dell Dimensions. The era of Computer Shopper magazine. The LED panels on these generic cases are so cool too.

 

The seller is taking best offers, so I'd be surprised if they didn't take $80 or so. Still a bargain if you can get out the door for $150. Any system with Topbench installed means that the previous owner was trying to build a classic DOS machine.

[Osgeld]

I dont mind a generic case, I was never a fan of those monster towers, I still to this day prefer a desktop models

[Keatah]

I don't find them impressive or practical. My head hurts from turning it sideways to work on them.

[Newsdee]

I had a big tower like that in the Pentium II days. Never since though, much prefer standard size now.

[Osgeld]

btw I have a couple pentium laptops on the marketplace (shameless plug)

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/256510-osgelds-garage-sale-2-pentium-laptops-and-a-scsi-hard-drive-enclosure-no/

[0078265317]

Shipping is 59 dollars and 77 cents for me. Anyhow oldest thing I have PC wise is a Pentium D 945. I don't have a power supply to test as its propriatery and hard to find. The case is an open H420a.

[boxpressed]

Here's another interesting deal. A sh*t ton of Apple II, Mac, and PC CPUs, monitors, etc.

 

If you live near Kansas City and have a cube van, this is a deal for you.

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 191960867958

[CatPix]

Who paid 100$ for a 486???? Are old PC so rare in the US?

[Keatah]

Millions upon millions of them have been taken off the market through e-cyclers.

 

There was a time when one could go to a skip and haul away a boot of 486 machines. Now none are left on the market.

[boxpressed]

Who paid 100$ for a 486???? Are old PC so rare in the US?

 

Yes, a working VLB (VESA local bus) 486 motherboard is worth at least $50, more if CPU, RAM, and cache are high quality.

 

A good VLB video card can sell for $40 or more.

 

Nice AT cases with LED panel are quite collectible.

[CatPix]

Wow.

If I want one, I just have to kick in a tree. As long as we're talking 286 and latter, it's easy.

If you seek high end part of BITD, it might be more difficult, I agree (even if I already have 3 ISA Sound Blaster cards I found in a trashbin:D )

Pre-286 PC are rare and valuable tho, but even then you can fidn the unsuspecting seller or you can take a bet on a "untested" machine.

I got a Zenith Data System laptop for 35€. Untested but heh. The hard drive was dead but everythign else was fine; so I now have a nighty 8086 machien with 640Ko of RAM to fiddle with.

Edited September 7, 2016 by CatPix

[boxpressed]

I have a Zenith Supersport laptop too (80C88 at 8MHz). Reminds me of the Cardiff Electric Giant from "Halt and Catch Fire."

 

286 is really for enthusiasts because the number of games you can play are quite limited compared to a 486DX2-66. With the latter, you can play DOS games through 1994 or so. With a turbo button, you can slow the 486 down to 286/386 speeds. So people who want an authentic, "period correct" DOS gaming experience usually go for the 486. Can't blame them -- such a great CPU for a great era of gaming.

[Osgeld]

I have a Zenith Supersport laptop too (80C88 at 8MHz).

 

I have one of those, mine is a 8086 @ 7mhz and I put in a 8087 math co (I dont know a whole bunch about the family, maybe they did have a 8088) , actually decently pleasent machine to game with, runs things like lemmings

 

My first very own pc was a similar setup, the speed bump from 4.whatever lets it run quite a number of CGA games with little issue

Edited September 7, 2016 by Osgeld

[CatPix]

I have a Zenith Supersport laptop too (80C88 at 8MHz). Reminds me of the Cardiff Electric Giant from "Halt and Catch Fire."

 

286 is really for enthusiasts because the number of games you can play are quite limited compared to a 486DX2-66. With the latter, you can play DOS games through 1994 or so. With a turbo button, you can slow the 486 down to 286/386 speeds. So people who want an authentic, "period correct" DOS gaming experience usually go for the 486. Can't blame them -- such a great CPU for a great era of gaming.

 

Mine is an older model, said to be the first laptop with an hard drive. Not a Supersport, but a model with just numbers and letter in the name, can't recall them.

 

And gotcha for the CPU! Indeed, if we're talking about 486 DX2, that's a different story, tho even here it woudln't go up the roof to 100$ but a complete state of the art machine from the era could fetch some decent money yeah.

 

I tend to forgot that lots of people start "PC gaming" at the VGA era.

For me "DOS gaming" is mostly the EGA and CGA era, even if DOS games were published up to 1997, as soon as you get into VGA/SVGA territory it's a whole different story, but aside from a few early VGA games that doesn't require a 486, there isn't any need for a 486 (at least CPU speed wise), a good old Pentium I AMD K6 or Cyrix can do the job as well. At least that's just my way of thinking. I guess there might be a few games that will run better/be made for 486 CPU rather than Pentium one, but I don't see the big deal so much here.

 

I think it help that people simply kept those machines for very long here, usually gamer passing them to their family for desktop use, and said family stored it away because "just in case we need to retrieve files". Also recyclers and brokers weren't much of a thing BITD. if you had an old computer, it ended to someone else, sold for nothing, or just in the bin.

Edited September 8, 2016 by CatPix

[Osgeld]

I guess there might be a few games that will run better/be made for 486 CPU rather than Pentium one, but I don't see the big deal so much here.

 

I have ran across a lot of small shop games and demoscene productions that have hissyfits on pentiums (and beyond)

 

as long as the program behaves itself its generally fine, but since the pentium is physically removed from the system bus though the northbridge controller some black magic voodoo programming wont work

 

is it a problem? nah 99.9999999% of commercial software wants to be good so they can reduce tech support and gain compatibility

Edited September 8, 2016 by Osgeld

[boxpressed]

For me "DOS gaming" is mostly the EGA and CGA era, even if DOS games were published up to 1997, as soon as you get into VGA/SVGA territory it's a whole different story, but aside from a few early VGA games that doesn't require a 486, there isn't any need for a 486 (at least CPU speed wise), a good old Pentium I AMD K6 or Cyrix can do the job as well. At least that's just my way of thinking. I guess there might be a few games that will run better/be made for 486 CPU rather than Pentium one, but I don't see the big deal so much here.

 

Yes, the DOS era was long enough to span multiple generations of processors. For me, DOS games were still king through the Windows 3.1 era (not many killer gaming apps for Windows 3.1) and even had some shining examples during the Windows 95 era (e.g. Blood). I tend to mark the end of the DOS era with the Pentium, which I associate with Windows 95.

 

However, some DOS games like Quake or any Build engine game (Duke 3D, Blood) will chew up Pentiums if played at SVGA resolutions with high-quality sound effects.

[CatPix]

Yeah. What I meant is that for clock sensitive games, I'd more get a 286, but for SVGA era games, as long as they run fine, well, I got an AMD K6 machine, with 64Mo of RAM, a Yamaha based sound card (Sound Blaster 16 compatible if I recall right) and can't remember the graphic chip, but something from 1996/97. Haven't got any issue to run MD-DOs games from 1988/90 like PoP or Stunts so heh good enough I suppose. (with Sim city 2000 using an USB mouse because yes, the motherboard have support for ONE USB input \o/ )

 

It's why it confuses me. I can understand wanting to get a 486 DX2 because it was quite a legend BITD but for playing MS DOS games that doesn't rely on the CPU speed to work, then anything is good.

I played some Duke Nukem 3D on my freshly made gamer computer from two years ago. A Freedos on CD to boot and voilà, paying Duke Nukem on a 8 cores CPU and a graphic card that had probably 100 more time the computer power of the computers that game was made on.

I can understand that old computer feels more like it. It's just the 486 setup with the VESA bus that is quite challenging. Going earlier with ISA bus or later with ISA and PCI (and some VESA on early Pentium I motherboards) feels much easier and cheaper. Plus getting in the Pentium era allows your to play DOs games that came out later.

And it won't cost you 100 $

Edited September 8, 2016 by CatPix

[0078265317]

Here's another interesting deal. A sh*t ton of Apple II, Mac, and PC CPUs, monitors, etc.

 

If you live near Kansas City and have a cube van, this is a deal for you.

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 191960867958

 

I don't have that kind of space. And its not 100% tested so not a good deal.

[boxpressed]

Yeah. What I meant is that for clock sensitive games, I'd more get a 286, but for SVGA era games, as long as they run fine, well, I got an AMD K6 machine, with 64Mo of RAM, a Yamaha based sound card (Sound Blaster 16 compatible if I recall right) and can't remember the graphic chip, but something from 1996/97. Haven't got any issue to run MD-DOs games from 1988/90 like PoP or Stunts so heh good enough I suppose. (with Sim city 2000 using an USB mouse because yes, the motherboard have support for ONE USB input \o/ )

 

It's why it confuses me. I can understand wanting to get a 486 DX2 because it was quite a legend BITD but for playing MS DOS games that doesn't rely on the CPU speed to work, then anything is good.

I played some Duke Nukem 3D on my freshly made gamer computer from two years ago. A Freedos on CD to boot and voilà, paying Duke Nukem on a 8 cores CPU and a graphic card that had probably 100 more time the computer power of the computers that game was made on.

I can understand that old computer feels more like it. It's just the 486 setup with the VESA bus that is quite challenging. Going earlier with ISA bus or later with ISA and PCI (and some VESA on early Pentium I motherboards) feels much easier and cheaper. Plus getting in the Pentium era allows your to play DOs games that came out later.

And it won't cost you 100 $

 

Agreed. There are very few games that run too slowly on a 386 and too quickly on a Pentium. And with some Socket 7 mobos, you can adjust multipliers and disable cache that will allow you to run at 486 speeds or lower.

 

The 486 is very much an enthusiast's platform as well, come to think. It is the only CPU associated with VLB, and those parts are scarce.