Motherboards from companies you wish you would have kept for their historical value.

[DAPUNISHER]

I used boards from-

Soltek
Epox
Abit
Shuttle
DFI
Soyo

And a couple of others, that have come and gone. It would be nice to have them just because they were snapshots of the evolution of the enthusiast market.

I will hunt up the exact models later. I know I posted about every one of them here, back in the day. The Soltek was called the Golden and had a Gold PCB. The first DFI was the LANParty series, skt754. The first Abit was the OG sktA overclocking beast.

 

[whm1974]

I used boards from-

Soltek
Epox
Abit
Shuttle
DFI

And a couple of others, that have come and gone. It would be nice to have them just because they were snapshots of the evolution of the enthusiast market.

Back in 1999 since I was using BeOS at the time, I want to a build around Abit's dual Celeron motherboard. The BP6 is what I think it was called, but I 'm not sure about the name.

Edit:
Yep it sure was the BP6:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABIT_BP6

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Back in 1999 since I was using BeOS at the time, I want to a build around Abit's dual Celeron motherboard. The BP6 is what I think it was called, but I 'm not sure about the name.

Edit:
Yep it sure was the BP6:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABIT_BP6

Sorry, I was still editing. Partied too much last night, so my brain is still fuzzy. Abit was my favorite board maker back then. Ran Durons and TBirds on that bad boy. Used to use a pencil to close the traces on the CPU for overclocking them. No IHS on those chips, and peeps used to crush the core trying to put HS/F on. I did it once, but the CPU survived the tiny chunk missing from the edge. You could buy these custom templates, forget what they were called, that would protect the chip.

Found the Shuttle I used for dozens of clients back in the day. Nvidia chipsets were always hit or miss, but this one was a rock. Did a working pull for a lady a couple years back. She lives in the sticks, and it was still on the net through Walmart dial up, pretty much just email use. Gave it away, wish I had kept it.

https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/mainboard/535-shuttle-mn31n-micro-atx-nforce2/?page=2

Found the Abit https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/mainboard/188-abit-kt7a/

I still have an Abit shirt from an event.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Man I love Anandtech. I was able to find my old Soltek thread https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/official-soltek-75frn-l-75frn2-l-nforce2-thread.1024851/

Thought of another one- The SOYO K8USA Dragon Ultra Black Label with AMD 8151/ALI M1563

 

[whm1974]

Sorry, I was still editing. Partied too much last night, so my brain is still fuzzy. Abit was my favorite board maker back then. Ran Durons and TBirds on that bad boy. Used to use a pencil to close the traces on the CPU for overclocking them. No IHS on those chips, and peeps used to crush the core trying to put HS/F on. I did it once, but the CPU survived the tiny chunk missing from the edge. You could buy these custom templates, forget what they were called, that would protect the chip.

Found the Shuttle I used for dozens of clients back in the day. Nvidia chipsets were always hit or miss, but this one was a rock. Did a working pull for a lady a couple years back. She lives in the sticks, and it was still on the net through Walmart dial up, pretty much just email use. Gave it away, wish I had kept it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=588560

Found the Abit https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/mainboard/188-abit-kt7a/

I still have an Abit shirt from an event.

I end buying a Biostar board for the first computer that I built, with the Duron, and later upgrade to T-Bird Athlon.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've still got a DFI X48 boards, BNIB, along with a Q6600.

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

I remember having a Soyo SY-K7V, also a Chaintech VNF4-Ultra.

Never really felt the need to keep them, but it would be interesting to see them now.

Just cleaned out a couple older computers and found 2X WD Raptor 10K HDD's (74 GB each). I had them in RAID 0 back in the day.


-AG

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I remember having a Soyo SY-K7V, also a Chaintech VNF4-Ultra.

Never really felt the need to keep them, but it would be interesting to see them now.

Just cleaned out a couple older computers and found 2X WD Raptor 10K HDD's (74 GB each). I had them in RAID 0 back in the day.


-AG

Chaintech! I completely forgot about them. I used to mod for NforcersHQ which was obviously nvidia chipset themed. We had everything else of course. I used to love their chipsets as buggy as they could be sometimes. And soundstorm was a winner. Loved juicing their IGP for all it was worth too.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I've still got a DFI X48 boards, BNIB, along with a Q6600.

Pics or ban Larry

 

[Linflas]

 

[VirtualLarry]

AT form-factor mobos had EIGHT slots? Am I seeing that right?

 

[SPBHM]

probably the favorite motherboard that I had was the Abit nf7-s 2.0; decently priced and full of features, great performance and OC for the platform.

it's funny how Abit, DFI and Epox were the most popular until 2004/2005 online, and a few years later they were all gone.

 

[Linflas]

AT form-factor mobos had EIGHT slots? Am I seeing that right?

It is an EISA board from around 1990 made by a company called Advanced Integration Research.

 

[killster1]

Historical value? What am I missing? I have loads of old boards on my wall in the garage (at least 30) I dont think their ever going to be worth anything but it looks cool to me. I have seen people place them under glass coffee tables, it would interest me if it was unbreakable glass as it gets very roudy often at the house. I liked dfi level of enthusiasm black light highlights and overclocking, (back when I cared about case lighting) now I'm little annoyed its mainstream so I'm no longer interested in lights. 2x12" blacklight cathodes hidden behind plastic side oh how the times have changed. Still have a few old cases too anyone want a antec 1200 300 600 or 900

 

[SPBHM]

Historical value? What am I missing? I have loads of old boards on my wall in the garage (at least 30) I dont think their ever going to be worth anything but it looks cool to me. I have seen people place them under glass coffee tables, it would interest me if it was unbreakable glass as it gets very roudy often at the house. I liked dfi level of enthusiasm black light highlights and overclocking, (back when I cared about case lighting) now I'm little annoyed its mainstream so I'm no longer interested in lights. 2x12" blacklight cathodes hidden behind plastic side oh how the times have changed. Still have a few old cases too anyone want a antec 1200 300 600 or 900

people are starting more and more to collect old hardware, specially the ones that are rare or were desirable/popular and so some old parts are being sold for a decent amount nowadays,

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I've gotten rid of almost all of my really old PC stuff, with one exception - I still have a working Pentium Pro system in my garage from 1997. However, that pales in comparison to my older Commodore hardware, the youngest of which is from 1990 and oldest of which is from 1981 or 82.

 

[killster1]

people are starting more and more to collect old hardware, specially the ones that are rare or were desirable/popular and so some old parts are being sold for a decent amount nowadays,

Ya I sold a few of my dfi board/cpu for around 150 more than worth (but I dont feel they are really going to double in price or anything. I chalked it up to silly prices on old sockets not because it was such a collector's item. You think the Smithsonian will be contacting you anytime soon? Most likely earth will end before then hehe

 

[killster1]

I've gotten rid of almost all of my really old PC stuff, with one exception - I still have a working Pentium Pro system in my garage from 1997. However, that pales in comparison to my older Commodore hardware, the youngest of which is from 1990 and oldest of which is from 1981 or 82.

Dont we all have 2 or 3 commander 64 in the garage anyway? I'll check Ebay see what one is worth.


About 200 I guess..and since they are 600 new 40 years ago I'd guess you just lost about 60000$ on the purchase... would be better advice to save something rare (cough cough these boards aren't rare!!) No such thing as a limited production motherboard that I've seen.i wonder what the smallest batch was 50,000? (Wild guess)

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Dont we all have 2 or 3 commander 64 in the garage anyway? I'll check Ebay see what one is worth.


About 200 I guess..and since they are 600 new 40 years ago I'd guess you just lost about 60000$ on the purchase... would be better advice to save something rare (cough cough these boards aren't rare!!) No such thing as a limited production motherboard that I've seen.i wonder what the smallest batch was 50,000? (Wild guess)

I don’t know what you’re going on about, but who really cares what something is worth? It’s the sentimental value and memories that are worth far more.

 

[EXCellR8]

Most if not all of the past boards I really liked I've held onto, with the exception of a couple that had some issues. On my wall still: Abit NF7-S, Rampage Formula (X48), and Striker II extreme. I'm still using a ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 but it is not my original board I used in ~2009/2010

Has anyone else ever bought a board just to have it? I've always wanted a first generation Maximus Formula because I thought it was the coolest looking thing ever when released. They pop up on eBay from time to time but people typically want too much for them. And then there's the EVGA SR-X which I'll probably never get to own.

 

[killster1]

I don’t know what you’re going on about, but who really cares what something is worth? It’s the sentimental value and memories that are worth far more.

I asked what historical value ment. Other guy mentioned people buying them because rare.. I guess u just choose to read some posts and not all! They are worthless to me just fun to look at on the wall ..

 

[Amol S.]

I asked what historical value ment. Other guy mentioned people buying them because rare.. I guess u just choose to read some posts and not all! They are worthless to me just fun to look at on the wall ..

I do not think a tech muesum might look at those as worthless.

Have wondered how much a tech museum might buy it for?

 

[killster1]

I do not think a tech muesum might look at those as worthless.

Have wondered how much a tech museum might buy it for?

Wow I didnt think of that. Lulz ,,, can u name a tech museum ? And if such museum existed the employees wouldn't already own these said "rare" boards? Ya not worthless they do have gold in them right

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I asked what historical value ment. Other guy mentioned people buying them because rare.. I guess u just choose to read some posts and not all! They are worthless to me just fun to look at on the wall ..

“Historical value” should not be confused with “monetary value.” Historical value in the context of this thread can mean two things: 1) Equipment which is significant in the overall history of computers (my Commodore machines) for one or more reasons. 2) Equipment which is significant in someone’s personal history (some of the other motherboard examples and also my Commodore example fits this too). I personally don’t consider anything in the PC world of much value outside of perhaps the original PC and PC AT; there were far more interesting machines in that time period which eventually lost out for a number of reasons (Amiga being one example). For example, someone mentioned Abit above and I had several of their boards but didn’t think twice about selling them or recycling them.

These old things are not worthless to those of us who grew up with them and whose lives and careers were heavily influenced by them. I started with computers around 1981 and that caused me to eventually get an electrical engineering degree and work in software.

Regardless, you’re missing a huge part of the picture. The hardware isn’t the only thing which made a platform great; the software was the biggest part. Consider that most software was on tape or floppy and that kind of media is nearing the end of its life, many folks are racing to preserve the software before it is lost forever.

Regarding your other post about tech museums, there are numerous museums throughout the country which house and preserve older computers, the Computer History Museum in California being one such example. There is another that I know of in Montana and someone is starting one in Indianapolis. I’ve often thought about donating my machines to them to make sure he’ll have a good home when I’m gone.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I actually had someone's CP/M-80 system, with 8" floppy drives, that was given to me. I didn't know what to do with it, really, I should have called the Computer Museum in Boston to see if they wanted that stuff. I think I eventually trashed it, although I saved a few of the 8" floppies for novelties. (Maybe the US gov't would have bought those floppies off of me, for their systems that still use them - I won't say which ones.)