X86 Discussion

[BullyDog]

Are there such a market for old PCs? I think it'll be a poor investment since everyone's into iphones and ipads.

[Leffmann]

Originally Posted by BullyDog

Are there such a market for old PCs? I think it'll be a poor investment since everyone's into iphones and ipads.

Used and restored PCs are a huge market, up to some point of course, few people want Pentium 1s and 2s these days.

There's a Swedish company that specializes in restored PCs. Most machines they sell are made in the 2010s, which I think is what 005AGIMA had in mind. Last year they had a turnover here equivalent to $40 million, and this is a small country of just 10 million people.

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by 005AGIMA

You could put a second NIC in a modern PC and use that as your proxy/firewall perhaps?

So the Win98 machine connects via ethernet to the modern PC, which in tern connects to the interwebs.

Or setup a dedicated Linux firewall. That's what my mate who works in cyber security for the banking sector does at home.

Or last option, and this is a VERY last resort......stop surfing for pron.

Aha yeah I will try that. on a 98Se would Consist of too much Bush for me Buddy

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by 005AGIMA

Great thread.

I've just been getting into DOSBOX to be honest, and now have Duke 3D and DOOM up and running. Also re-installed Unreal Tournament 2004 and resurrected my home made custom maps for that and Duke.

Re projects though.....

Pentium II
My old Pentium II is still at my parents place in the UK, so I'll be taking a look at that in december with a view to resurrecting it and possibly shipping it back to Australia.

From memory it was duel booting Win98 and WinNT when I left it ~17 years ago.

PC's by the PALLET LOAD
An evil plan I've been tinkering with is grabbing a pallet of used office PC's from auction, cleaning them up, and flipping them at a fair price.

3 pallets went up recently but I missed the auction as I just wanted to see what they sold for, but generally they sell cheap, and the same machines (HP i5's) were going for around $250 (AUD) on ebay at the time. Depending on what you get the pallet for, there's a potential for ~$200 profit per box without ripping anyone off.

The thing that makes me weary though is all the hassle of becoming an e-bay seller. Plus with those numbers, it's clearly a "business" so tax implications and I'd have to declare second income at work, and where I work, that has to go through approvals......unless I up-skill the wife to do it.
That's an option.

Do make it work of course you first need:

1) Around $3500 to gamble on a pallet of dusty old PC's that may or may not be missing bits

2) The space to store them

3) the time and knowledge to work on them to make a fair and honest sale

4)Space to store them

5) Patience. They're not all going to sell in 1 week...or a month.....or maybe even a year, and the value will be going down every day they sit.

So while it's possibly good money, I wouldn't call it fast money.

While Pallet Loads are a good Option just be Very Careful where you go for this as a Friend of mine has done it and Stupidly only Checked the Outer Skin of Pcs which were all 2ND Gen i5 Prebuilds, The inner Stock was Mainly Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad. He Lost a Buck load but that like I say was down to his Stupidity of not Checking it at all. Excitement took over I think

[005AGIMA]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

Used and restored PCs are a huge market, up to some point of course, few people want Pentium 1s and 2s these days.

There's a Swedish company that specializes in restored PCs. Most machines they sell are made in the 2010s, which I think is what 005AGIMA had in mind. Last year they had a turnover here equivalent to $40 million, and this is a small country of just 10 million people.

Correct. These were i5's as mentioned in the post.
Corporate PC's are usually swapped out as soon as machines are out of warranty (4 years) and that's where most of these kinds of stashes come from.

The auction houses dont want the hassle of selling each item so they go by the pallet load unless specifically instructed by the seller.

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

While Pallet Loads are a good Option just be Very Careful where you go for this as a Friend of mine has done it and Stupidly only Checked the Outer Skin of Pcs which were all 2ND Gen i5 Prebuilds, The inner Stock was Mainly Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad. He Lost a Buck load but that like I say was down to his Stupidity of not Checking it at all. Excitement took over I think

Absolutely. The auction house I was looking at is reputable and are the primary go to here in Perth from everything as small as a PC, to fleets of cars. All items are tested and described. But yes it'd also check them out where possible in person.

The lot i was watching, they even detailed how many had 2, 4, or 8MB ram, and the HDD sizes.

So for example.... lot of 65 units. 25 with 250GB HDD, and 40 with 500GB HDD.

Ahhhh I purchased my Chrysler 300C v8 Hemi from there a few years back. God I miss that car.

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by 005AGIMA

Correct. These were i5's as mentioned in the post.
Corporate PC's are usually swapped out as soon as machines are out of warranty (4 years) and that's where most of these kinds of stashes come from.

The auction houses dont want the hassle of selling each item so they go by the pallet load unless specifically instructed by the seller.



Absolutely. The auction house I was looking at is reputable and are the primary go to here in Perth from everything as small as a PC, to fleets of cars. All items are tested and described. But yes it'd also check them out where possible in person.

The lot i was watching, they even detailed how many had 2, 4, or 8MB ram, and the HDD sizes.

So for example.... lot of 65 units. 25 with 250GB HDD, and 40 with 500GB HDD.

Ahhhh I purchased my Chrysler 300C v8 Hemi from there a few years back. God I miss that car.

As Long as you know they are Safe you will be all good to go then Buddy :-)

[Glen M]

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

Right, Now that it's a Open X86 Discussion would anybody Else like to Share what Projects they have on the Go?

I'm Currently trying to get my 98SE Setup to Play Multiplayer Via Lan. Does anyone know a Solid Safe option for this? Too outdated on Running the Internet on older Machines now and I don't want to leave myself Vulnerable

If your just running a lan why not just pickup a cheap 100mbit switch and wire it locally and off the Internet.

Or if you need it online the way I've done it at home is to have a separate network from the router in the house. All my retro stuff is on its own network in the cave that hangs off the main network in the house. 2 layers of security with that setup so should be safer.

I think you know most of my builds with the ongoing 386 build over on youtube. I have a 286 coming in the post (can't wait to get it) plus there are 2 pentium 2 rigs, a pentium 3 and a pentium 4 in bits waiting to be built. Want to get some amd stuff though. Would love to find a k6-2 or 3.

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by Glen M

If your just running a lan why not just pickup a cheap 100mbit switch and wire it locally and off the Internet.

Or if you need it online the way I've done it at home is to have a separate network from the router in the house. All my retro stuff is on its own network in the cave that hangs off the main network in the house. 2 layers of security with that setup so should be safer.

I think you know most of my builds with the ongoing 386 build over on youtube. I have a 286 coming in the post (can't wait to get it) plus there are 2 pentium 2 rigs, a pentium 3 and a pentium 4 in bits waiting to be built. Want to get some amd stuff though. Would love to find a k6-2 or 3.

I did notice a Motherboard Sat on top of a Shelf on your Last Video was that the P3. Would like to have it both on and Offline as there was Discussion Previously of Online LAN Parties if you yourself are interested? Duke 3d, Quake, Doom etc :-)

Can't wait to see all the Projects come to Life

Just got a Asus K8V out of the Salvage yard with Athlon 64 2800+ Cpu

Ati All in Wonder 9800 128MB Agp Card

512MB Ram

NIC Card and 100MBPS Wifi Card.


Next Potential 98SE Build or Better suited to XP ya think?

[BullyDog]

About a year ago I picked up an HP Media Center PC at a thrift store for $5. Complete system sans a hard drive. The CPU is AMD64 3700+

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by BullyDog

About a year ago I picked up an HP Media Center PC at a thrift store for $5. Complete system sans a hard drive. The CPU is AMD64 3700+

Sounds like a good XP System to me :-)

Did it have a Graphics card?

[nathanm1991]

Now the Proud owner of a AWE64 thanks to Viceroy

[BullyDog]

That's right. It has the XP label. Graphics is onboard.

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by BullyDog

That's right. It has the XP label. Graphics is onboard.

Hp Compaq always make a Nice looking Prebuilt, Function is another matter but all the Same a Useful Purchase :-) does it have AGP or Pcie?

Question I Asked just answered I Looked at the Picture Closer

[BullyDog]

Whoops! It's a Compaq.

[rare_j]

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

Hp Compaq always make a Nice looking Prebuilt, Function is another matter but all the Same a Useful Purchase :-) does it have AGP or Pcie?

Question I Asked just answered I Looked at the Picture Closer

Well you'll have nothing to worry about with Norton 2006 on board!

[BullyDog]

I just remembered I have a video!

[ Show youtube player ]

[nathanm1991]

The K8V Deluxe is now Sporting 98SE :-)

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by rare_j

Well you'll have nothing to worry about with Norton 2006 on board!

Forever Safe!

[Glen M]

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

I did notice a Motherboard Sat on top of a Shelf on your Last Video was that the P3. Would like to have it both on and Offline as there was Discussion Previously of Online LAN Parties if you yourself are interested? Duke 3d, Quake, Doom etc :-)

Can't wait to see all the Projects come to Life

Just got a Asus K8V out of the Salvage yard with Athlon 64 2800+ Cpu

Ati All in Wonder 9800 128MB Agp Card

512MB Ram

NIC Card and 100MBPS Wifi Card.


Next Potential 98SE Build or Better suited to XP ya think?

Always interested in a bit of online gaming. Haven't played quake online for some years now.

The board you seen was the P4. The P3 is in a case now, I'm just struggling to find time for completing it. Torn between running my Voodoo 3 3000 in it or going for a geforce 2 mx. The geforce 2 would be faster but the Voodoo is more period correct and well its a voodoo only 16 bit graphics though...

[Viceroy]

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

Now the Proud owner of a AWE64 thanks to Viceroy

Posted ;-)